Epic Quest: Two Years
by DarKazeura
Summary: This is the sequel to Epic Quest. The Fayth have been sent, and most of our Heroes have gone back home to Earth and their own lives... or have they? This story follows our Spiran heroes in their attempt to reform Spira, and to find friends who were lost.
1. Prologue: Years gone by

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Prologue.

_Years Gone By_

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_To Nysa Croft, Becca Croft & Ophelia Batalax._

_Date: August 11th 2008._

_I don't really know how to start this, I'm not sure if you guys will even get this message. I guess, ... Hmm. It's hard to write a letter to someone when you know they will most likely not even get it. But I'm hopeful all the same. _

_Where to start? I guess, the beginning would work for now. _

_It's been three days since the five of us left Spira. Bahamut lied, they all did. They didn't send us home. Sure, they sent us back to Earth, but this isn't **our** Earth. I have so many ideas swirling around in my head, none of it is making much sense. What if all the worlds out there are some sort of television or game series on our Earth? Did you know that Spira is in the Pegasus Galaxy? Probably not, eh. We went from a video game that I've never played, to a sci-fi television series that I've never seen. Souron has though, which is helpful. Kayden and Xander have seen bits too, but well, you know how they are. Not to mean any offense of anything, of course. But Xander is insane, and Kayden is a drug addict. You see me problem._

_We were attacked the first day we got here by these things called **Wraith**, but we kicked ass. Although, in hindsight, we should have just stayed in our cell-like rooms. The people keep looking at us as if we're some sort of puzzle that they are just dying to take apart and rebuild to see how we work... not that people do that with puzzles, I don't think? Puzzles aren't usually taken apart as people know how they work, what with the little pieces that fit together and...Okay--- got off track. Sorry._

_Xander made an enemy with the IOA. (as in they really don't like each other... they respect each other.. but not like... at all.) I don't know what that stands for, but they seem to nearly run this place... personally, I dislike the lot of them, they... well. I don't like them, let's keep it at that. In other notes, at the risk of sounding like an air headed blond... Ronan Dex? Total hotty. Too old for me, but amazing eye candy all the same. I think Skye, when she first saw him, forgot all about Souron... although that didn't last. Those two have been nearly inseparable since they met up in PhantomCastlegar. _

_Bit I digress. I've gotten distracted once again. (I may have had a couple too many ethers... maybe. Don't tell B! She'd never let me live it down after the hard time I always gave her about overusing Haste. Lol.) Er... where was I?_

_Right, It's been three days since we left Spira. Ronan said that he and his team would go to Spira and deliver this message, Xander should be with them, but that's not finalized yet. I'm still thinking about it, if they can't figure out how to get me back to my Earth, I'll probably be back on Spira soon too. Maybe. I'm not entirely sure if I remember the gate address right. I only heard Batalax mention it in passing. ... which is why I'm not sure if you will even get this letter._

_Stupid Fayth. Stupid Bahamut. If only he had kept his end of the bargain, we wouldn't even be in this situation! Grr. I am Angryfied. Very. I've been trying to keep calm so as to be able to fully access my ...Frekrd sykel, (I think I did that right, my Al Bhed's a little rusty... from here on out I'll use the abbreviation WM.) but I am starting to lose my cool. Why doesn't anything ever go right for us? I mean, we spent most of the last year and a half fighting for our lives, fugitives on the run from an evil religion whose word is law. We were attacked multiple times by a dead guy... must I continue?_

_Oh yeah, Skye and Souron? Totally engaged. Least romantic proposal, ever. Instead of a ring, he proposed with a pipe fitting he had found on the floor, or at least, I think that's what it was. Skye demanded she get a real ring sometime in the near future though. The two of them are working on getting identities here... I think I'm the only one who's still actively trying to get home. I just... I want to go home. So bad. I don't even really remember why now. I don't think I'd be able to fit in there anymore... I mean, I don't think I can just... stand back and do nothing anymore, We've been fighting for so long, it's become second nature. I miss my teenage naivety and lack of combat skills. Sigh._

_How are you guys? Did everything with Sin go according to plan? ...Did everyone make it out all right?... Oh, Skye wants to talk now. Here she is._

_Hey guys! I'd give you a re-cap on what's gone around here, but Tara just did that, so instead I'll talk about other stuff. I'M GETTING MARRIED! OMFG! LOL. Who'd have guessed it? Okay, so the proposal could have had...some work, lol. But still, I'm so happy. Ee! Hahaha. _

_Tara really wants to go home, but honestly, I think this world has a lot more potential than ours, I mean, the technology is much better for one thing... and there are people who have been through things similar to what we've been through. We're not alone here... where if we were on our Earth, we would have to hide who we are and become the people we were... But we aren't those people anymore, and I think Tara is finally starting to realize that. Sides, going from magical heroes to high school zeros? Not my idea of a great time. ...Okay, so I'll admit, we weren't exactly zeros what with our group of friends being one of the largest in the entire school... but we would still have to repeat the year. Fa dumt dra baubma rana dryd fa knytat.... I think I spelt that right. Al Bhed... totally __**not**__ my forte. Lol._

_We have to go now, we're gonna hit the Cafeteria with the others. We love you guys, and we hope you get this message._

_Love, Tara Adara & Skye Kane._

_---_

_To Ophelia Batalax and Nysa Croft_

_Date: November 1st 2008_

_...Hey. Our last message didn't get to you. Supposedly the gate wouldn't connect. I hope you get this one... Gods I hope you guys are all right. It's been three months since we got here. Skye, Souron and I have an house in town now, we've even managed to find ourselves jobs. Skye works at a restaurant called O'Mallys, or something like that, I'm terrible with names, she can't serve alcohol yet though, as legal age is 21 here instead of 19 like back in C-gar. Souron managed to find a job as a mechanic, pretty high paying too. _

_Oh, and me? I'm working at the SGC as a nurse. They said if they can't find a way to send me home, they'll help me get a medical degree. That excites me. I never thought in a million years that I'd be a doctor. I mean, come on, me? A doctor? ... but here I am. It was a stroke of luck that I got this job too, SG-12 brought some illness back with them from PX—something rather, and it caused people to randomly break out into mass violence. It was basically as if someone had cast berserk and confuse on everyone, but for some reason, it didn't work on myself or Kayden, I think it may have something to do with the fact that we both work with WM. ... but anyways, back to my story, it didn't effect us, so we ended up single handedly (or double handedly, as there were two of us) fixing it and saving everyone. I really wish you (Nysa) had been here though, your alchemy skills would have been unbelievably helpful. As it stands, I've been trying to work on my alchemy sphere grid... but I just, don't have a knack for it. I mean, I can learn the alchemy attacks, but it doesn't do the same thing as when I learned WM and BM, I don't get the... information download._

_None of us ever really talked about how the sphere grid worked, but for me (Once Priest Lanemt showed me what I had been doing wrong) it was as if, for each new skill in my chosen section that I learned, an almost encyclopedia amount of knowledge about the skill was downloaded into my brain. I mean, Once I got my sphere grid working properly... I know more about anatomy then I __**ever**__ wanted to know; and not just for Humans either. I mean, I still need to learn how to do things without my WM, but I have an extreme advantage in that I know so much about the human body and how to fix it already. I'm actually very excited about this. I finally found my calling. :)_

_Oh, guess I should tell you guys about Xander and Kayden too... Well, the truth is, I'm not entirely sure. Kayden took off as soon as he got his new identity, none of us have seen him since. (My theory is that he's out looking to see if we have doubles here, but I could be totally off base... I mean, I've known Kayden for six years... and I still don't have the foggiest idea of why he does the things he does, lol.) Xander, on the other hand, is in the Pegasus Galaxy. He sends us messages as often as he can, but he seems pretty busy. Originally, he had went out there to return to Spira, but since that doesn't seem like an option right now, he ended up joining an SGA team. He's the youngest person working in Atlantis, but it doesn't seem to bother him... He has a crush on an older woman, a Jennifer Keller, but she's dating some Canadian science-y guy that Xander always complains about._

_Anyways, I better go. I'll talk to you soon. I love you. Hopefully, some day we'll find a way to get this message to you guys._

_-Tara Adara, Healer of the SGC. 3_

_---_

_Dear Nysa and B._

_Date: January 19th 2009_

_Hi guys! It's me, Skye. I hope you guys are doing alright, like really. I miss you guys like crazy. You guys are supposed to be my bridesmaids! Grr, you guys better get this letter. It's been five and a half months since we got to Alter-Ego-Earth... personally, I'm really liking it, I feel so much more free here than I ever did back on our Earth.. Sure, I miss my family and friends... But I have Souron, and Tara, and I have you guys and Xander through mail._

_Oh, in other news, Souron and I have set a date. Ee! I'm excited! It's set to June eighteenth, 2009. that's like... five months away! Omg. OMFG! I'm getting married in five months! Five fucking months! Can you believe it?_

_My job at O'Mallys is going great, I got a raise the other day, which is awesome. Not that we're not already pretty set. They gave us quite a bit of money to set up house and home here when they realized they wouldn't ever be able to send us back to our Earth... oh, did you know about that yet? ...Tara hasn't taken the news well, we just found out a month ago for sure. Tara has pretty much thrown herself into her schooling, we barely see her... so don't expect any letters from her for awhile. I'm gonna do what I can about getting Souron to write a letter... but I dunno if he actually will._

_If you guys get this message... send a reply to the Atlantis outpost, and we'll see if they can bring you to Earth for my Wedding. You'd even get to ride on the dedalus! (Okay, I'm like ninety percent sure I spelled that wrong, but if you're as much of a Stargate fan as you always claim to be... You'll know what I mean. ..I hope. Lol.)_

_Umm... I think that's all for now. Bye bye. 3_

_-Skye Kane_

_---_

_Hey lame Spiran peoples, can't believe you haven't even sent us a letter back, I guess we aren't important anymore QQ oh well, just figured I would drop you two a note and let you know Skye and I are getting married, yay! =p wedding is June 19th, yes this June 19th, uhh what else, your probly both in the wedding party so it would be helpful if you got back to us, sooner rather than later mind. Ummm...... what else... maybe what's new... oh i'm making phat cash turning wrenches, Skye is making no money working in a restaurant (even though she got a raise), but she is having fun... surprise, Tara is never around because she's going to med school, yea I know med school? apparently. umm what else, we all miss you two loads, hope things are good with you Asemo and Luzzu, and I really hope things are good for you Nysa... we really do miss you guys, let us know you're both ok._

_Write back soon........ or else..._

_-Souron_

_---_

_To Becca, Batalax and Nysa._

_Date: May 2nd 2009._

_Hey. It's me, Kayden. How are you guys? I've been busy. Sorry for not mailing you sooner. I found our others. They're normal and I don't like them. I'm not in Colorado Springs like the rest, I'm mailing this to them to mail to you guys. I'm on to something here, but I can't tell anyone yet. I have to go. Be safe._

_-Kayden Croft_

_---_

_To Nysa, Batalax and Becca._

_Date: June 17th 2009_

_Hey guys, I don't have much time to write. Med school is surprisingly easy, I think I have the Sphere grid to thank for that, even here on Earth it is constantly feeding me new information. I'm really glad I didn't throw my white mage grid away like Priest Lanemt said. I mean, I don't use it for my WM, but the information it gives me is amazing. They said I was a medical prodigy. I'm in such an accelerated program that I'll probably be finished med school within the next year or two. It's June 17th 2009 today, Souron and Skye are getting married tomorrow, (Which is why I have three days off school) _

_We've officially been on this Earth for nearly eleven months. There is no way for us to get back to our Earth. And even if we could, I no longer think it would be a good idea. We've been gone from that Earth since May 2007, and time moves much faster there, so we've probably been missing for around four or five years. If we went back... who would ever believe any of the stuff we've done? We'd be locked up in a mental ward. Sides, I'm a doctor! Me! Hahaa :D_

_I gotta go, Tanya, Cassie, and I are throwing Skye a party tonight, we kicked Souron outta the house. Hehe, we ordered strippers. (Tanya is a friend from Skye's work and Cassie is the daughter of the Doctor who used to be in charge of the SGC med ward. She was killed a couple years ago though.)_

_Souron is out with some of his friends for the night too. I'm almost afraid to see what he and John will get up to... (John is the clone of this General who used to be part of SG-1, he's awesome, I've only met him a few times though.)_

_-Tara Adara _

_---_

_Nysa and B._

_Date: August 2nd 2009_

_Hi! I am officially Mrs. Skye ... uh, Kane. Yah yeah, I know. Souron didn't have a last name, so he took mine. It's a little weird but cool. He's now Souron Kane. LOL. We just got back from our honeymoon. The wedding was great, we invited a lot of people from SGC, even Xander showed up! That was a total surprise, he came with his team. Yeah, he has his own team. Zane, Kally and Sven, they are..... quite.. uh.. interesting? Lol._

_But ya! The wedding went great. I was so nervous... but as soon as I saw him standing there... it's like, the rest of the world went away. How cheesy does that sound, but it was totally true. It was the best day of my life...I just, wish you guys had been here to see it. I don't even know if you guys are still alive. I try not to think about it, but the last time we saw you was right before you guys went to fight Sin. ...I hope you guys are all right. I can't believe it's already August second... in six more days, we'll have been here for exactly a year. It'll have been a year since we saw the two of you._

_...I'm gonna go. I have to get to work in an hour and a half and I still have to shower, I also should tidy up some. Tara is coming home for the weekend. I can't wait till she's done with her schooling, I barely see her. She lives with her roommate Angela on Campus. But yeah, really gotta go. Love you guys!_

_-Skye Kane. 3_

_---_

_To Batalax and Nysa_

_Date: December 22nd 2009_

_Woo! Winter Vacation! Merry Christmas! I love school, really, I do. But a break is nice. Because of the accelerated program, I barely have time to sleep, let alone relax. I can't believe how much time has passed, and how quickly. I've got a boyfriend, his name is Chris Hether, he's twenty two, so he's not that much older, just two years. It's kind of awkward though... I hadn't realized just... how much I have to hide. I may have to break up with him soon though, as much as I like him... My cover story for my life is that I was home-schooled my entire life, in a small Canadian town... but Chris is from Canada, and he's been to Castlegar before... you see my problem._

_Oh, I gotta go, Skye's calling. I think the three of us are going out to O'Mallys for dinner._

_Love you guys._

_-Tara Adara._

_---_

_To B and Nysa,_

_Date: January 6th 2010_

_Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to meee! I am officially Legal Age! Woo! (This is Skye by the way.) Can't believe I'm 21 now... it's been so long since this journey started. I mean, I was 18 when we were brought to Spira.. you guys were 17._

_Oh guess what? Kayden showed up on New Years. Something is off about him. He kept looking at us really strangely... as if, he was... I dunno, studying us? Creeped me the fuck out. Like really. He was gone by morning too. Didn't even leave a note. Jerk._

_.. I don't really have much to say._

_-Skye Kane._

_----_

_To Nysa and Batalax,_

_Date: March 15th 2010_

_Yellow._

_............................................. ok. You guys suck. Your supposed to say a color now. You guys need msn, or email, or you know, you need to get our letters and reply to them! ...what else, oh ya, i got a raise. and, Tara's BF, I don't like him, you guys wouldn't ether I'm sure. I don't really have much to say, Skye said to send you guys a letter so i am. Our wedding was great, we went to Spain for our Honeymoon. It's March 15th now, a year and seven months since we left Spira. Long time._

_Write back this time!_

_-Souron_

_---_

_Date: April 30th 2010_

_Um. hey. You don't know me, but my name is Cassie Fraiser, I'm a friend of your friends. They don't know I'm sending this letter, but I figured if the two of you are anything like your friends here, I would like to get to know you. Hopefully, when you start getting all the letters your friends have sent, you'll give me a reply._

_Thanks,_

_Cassie Fraiser_

_---_

_To Nysa Croft and Ophelia Batalax._

_Date: May 22nd 2010_

_I'm done! Okay, so that's a lie, but I'm almost done, I've got four more months and I'm done Med School! Haha. How are you guys? I hope your as good as I am, which is awesome! 3_

_Chris and I broke up, but it was a mutual thing. Okay... so, it might have something to do with the fact that he's in jail for credit card fraud, or something. When I found out I just laughed._

_Oh, did I tell you guys? I'm graduating at the top of my class with full honors? I'm excited! Finally, I'll be back to working at the SGC._

_Well, I gotta go, Skye, Souron, John, Cassie, Tanya and I are going out to celebrate my good news! I love you guys!_

_-Dr. Tara Adara :D _

_---_

_Hey Spira peoples!_

_Date: June 19th 2010_

_S'officially a year since we got married, time passes fast like, don't it? We miss you guys, so you better reply to our letters soon. It's almost been two years since we saw you guys._

_Waay too long. You guys really gotta mail us back, okay? I mean, you missed our wedding, you at least owe us a letter or apology! Right?_

_We don't actually have that much to say, just thought we'd drop the two of you a line or two. You had better reply this time, you hear me?!_

_-Souron and Skye_

_---_

Xander carefully refolded the latest letter and placed it in a intricately carved box with the rest of the letters that would most likely never be sent. The letters had gotten shorter and shorter over the last two years. He moved over to his desk and sat down gingerly, he was still sore from his last mission, and he had run out of curative items _months_ ago, unfortunately. He looked over his bare room and sighed, he missed his friends, a lot. Xander rest his head in his hands and shot the wooden letter box sitting on his bed a resentful glare, the rest of his group were so hopeful that the letters would eventually get through. They didn't seem to understand that if there was a malfunction with the Spiran Stargate... there was no one who would be able to fix it. They would never see Nysa and Batalax again.

That's not to say that he had stopped trying. He just... didn't try as often. They attempted to connect to the Spiran gate once every four to six months. In the beginning, it had been once a month. Makay always told him he was wasting time, and that the gate was most likely destroyed or something.

A swoosh sound was heard as his door opened.

"Xander... are you not feeling well?"

He lifted his head from his hands and smiled faintly, "I'm fine Teyla, just... reminiscing, I guess. I'm wondering how to word my next letter to my friends. I don't want to hurt them, but they are so hopeful that they'll be able to see Ny and Ophelia once again."

"I see." Teyla stepped further into his room, "But, would you not know unless you try? Maybe they have gotten their Stargate fixed?"

Xander forced a grin, "You are totally right Teyla! And knowing my friends, they're insulted we haven't visited sooner!"

"That's the spirit!"

Xander spun around in his chair so he was facing her fully, "Where's the lil' one?"

"He is getting a checkup with Dr. Keller at the moment."

"Oh, that cold still sticking with him?" Xander said. He frowned, little Torran Emmagen had been sick for the past week, and half the base was worrying themselves sick over it.

"Yes, but I am sure he will be fine."

Xander nodded vigorously, "You're right, of course. Like always. About everything. I should really go find my team, for the off chance that the gate does actually connect." He walked over to the bed once more and placed the letter box into his leg pouch. The rest of his team always gave him grief that he didn't need to carry a bag as his item pouches would hold anything no matter the size, and no matter what he filled them with, they never weighed more than ten pounds. Needless to say, he usually ended up with nearly all the equipment. He grabbed a piece of yellow fabric off his desk and tied it around his head. The bandanna and his chocobo bling were the only things from his Spiran outfit he still wore.

Fifteen minutes later found him and his team, Lieutenant Roston, Major Lisette, and Dr Cormac, standing in front of the Stargate.

"Dial the gate."

"Yes sir."

Xander watched as the chevrons locked one by one and closed his eyes to hide his disappointment when the gate died out seconds after it had been dialed... except that it didn't.

"Send a MALP."

Xander's eyes shot open and his jaw dropped. He met Teyla's eyes from across the room, and she just smiled enigmatically. "It connected?" Xander asked faintly.

"I guess it did, Kid. I guess it did." Cormac commented. Although he too seemed to be in shock.

"SGA-18, you have a go."

Xander couldn't hide his excitement and took off towards the gate at a run, his team followed a second later.

---

The site that greeted SGA-18 was one Xander hadn't seen in nearly two years. Guadosalam stood proudly beyond the gate. Immediately he activated his Com-sphere and hoped to Yevon that it would still work after all this time. "Batalax." he waited a few seconds but there was no reply. "Nysa?" Another few seconds passed with nothing happening. Faintly, an almost tribal drum sound was coming from all around them, it was silent enough that he almost had to strain to make it out, but noticeable enough that he couldn't help but hear it... it was kind of nice, actually.

"Who are you?" A large man demanded. He had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, causing all four SG members to reach for their P-90s. The man was overweight and had what looked like a giant shield or turtle shell attached to his back. He had a headband with a metal plate holding the symbol of Yevon tied around his head.

"Xander Payne." Xander pointed to himself.

"Zane Roston," He pointed to the tall blond Lieutenant.

"Kally Lisette," He pointed to the shapely brunette who was heavily armed, she was the only female of the group.

"And Sven Cormac." He gestured to the dark skinned doctor.

The mans eyes had widened upon hearing Xanders name and he barely noticed the rest of the instructions. "Xander Payne? Guardian to Majokage Ophelia Vanaid and Koorikage Nysa Croft?"

Xander mouthed the words _Majokage_, _Koorikage_, and _Vanaid_, shrugged, and nodded once lazily. "Yep. That's me."

"Oh... you must come this way, oh, how I do love irony!" The man grabbed Xander by the arm and dragged him bodily down the hill, the man babbled on and on the entire way.

Xander's team watched their youngest member get dragged away for a minute before they decided to follow, they had of course been briefed on Spira, but Xander was still their spokesperson for this mission, so it wouldn't be good to get separated.

As they walked, they noticed a group of heavily armed teens watching them warily. There were eight of them all together, along with two men who looked to be in their late twenties. All of them wore the same headband as the man who was dragging Xander.

Cormac was frowning severely as he watched the kids they passed by. "I don't remember Xander mentioning anything about guards, or anything of the sort."

The other two were watching Xander, more than they were the kids who were watching them, but Cormac could see that they both had their P90's in hand. "Heh, I don't think Xand has any idea what-so-ever who that is." Lisette murmured, her lips quirked into a smile.

"You think?" Roston replied sarcastically, as he too began to smile. It really was quite hilarious to watch their team member be dragged around like a rag doll, considering how on missions he always ended up dragging them around on his 'short cuts'. They nearly always ended up lost, but while lost, Xander had an uncanny ability to find things that would be useful to them, be it strange ancient technology they had never seen, to information on the Wraith that they hadn't come across.

"Hey! Hey, lemme' go, I can walk just fine on my own, thank you very much." Xander pulled his arm out of the mans tight grip and glared. His glare disappeared almost as fast as it had come, "Hey," he smiled down at the shorter man, "Got any spare potions?"

---

A couple hours later Xander and his team sat in front of a scantily dressed woman named LeBlanc, and her two lackeys; Logos, and the one who had brought them to Seymours old mansion, Ormi. Xander had been on edge ever since they entered the mansion, he wouldn't put it past Seymour to randomly show up and attempt to kill him, they had never truly finished him off after all. The last time he had been seen was when he attacked Nysa in PhantomCastlegar. The woman, along with her two lackies were also wearing Yevon headbands.

"So, you're saying they're gone, just like that, as in, no longer here?" Xander repeated what he had just been told. He tried to get his head around it and found that he just... couldn't.

"Yes. Do I really have to repeat myself? They just couldn't stand up to my amazing abilities as a sphere hunter... so they high tailed it out of here like the Dullwings they are. Your Summoners went with them along with some redheaded guy of no real importance." The woman sniffed inelegantly and stuck her nose in the air. Xander got the feeling that this woman was hiding something big, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"By any chance, did you get the gate address they went to?" Roston asked.

The woman blinked stupidly for a moment, "Gate address?" She repeated, "They went through the portal to the Farplane... they're probably dead by now." she waved a manicured hand dismissively, as if she didn't care at all. _Liar. _Xander could tell that she was lying. He could also tell that she was more than a little concerned.

"Never mind then." Xander stood up from his chair so fast that it clattered loudly to the floor behind him. "We have a lot to get done, so if you will excuse us?"

The woman glared haughtily, "Fine, you may go." she turned her head in dismissal.

Xander just shook his head and gestured for his team to lead the way out. Once they were out of the stifling mansion, Xander leaned against the fountain in the square. "Well, that was a waste of time. The woman barely told us a thing about what we wanted to know, and yet, managed to talk for _Five _ hours!"

Roston laughed and said, "I rather liked her."

Cormac, Lisette and Xander spoke simultaneously,"You would." All of them had the same dry inflection in their voices.

"Hey, can you blame me? You guys _do_ have eyes don't you?" Roston argued.

"Yeah, we also have ears." Cormac quipped.

"So, where to now oh Famous Guardian, sir." Kally said, she leaned against the fountain next to him.

"Hopefully to somewhere where I can get some actual answers." Xander replied darkly. His eyes were wary as he took in the armed teens watching them.

"Oh, and we gotta get some of those item pouches you have, is it possible to get them in bulk?" Cormac asked eagerly. One of those pouches would be invaluable to him, he would be able to carry so much supplies...

"Our best bet would probably be to head to Luca... unfortunately, it's probably around a months worth of travel by foot, maybe more." Xander pushed away from the fountain and murmured "It's times like this I really miss Bahamut."

"A month? Do they not have any faster ways to travel on this planet?" Cormac asked.

"Nah, well, at least they didn't when I was here last, but things could have changed. The Al Bhed are the only ones who use technology on this planet, but the religion Yevon said that the Al Bhed were heathens, and that technology was the cause of Sin, which was this giant flying fish that could destroy entire cities within seconds. Needless to say, the Al Bhed were not well liked." Xander shrugged, and said, "But again, it's been nearly two years, things could have changed since then."

"So, where would we find out this information?" Lisette asked patiently.

"No idea. All the contacts I made are probably in Besaid, which is even farther away than Luca. ..wait!" Xander grinned and activated his Com-Sphere once more. "Becca."

"_This is Becca... sort of."_

"Sort of? No, never mind, I don't need to know right now. Do you know where your sister and Batalax are?" Xander paced back and forth in front of the fountain as he talked.

"_Becca's sister and her friend took off months ago to places unknown, without saying goodbye to us, I should add, not that Becca was here anyways... but still. By the way, My name is Xobb, I'm in charge of the Spira outpost."_

"Oh...kaaaay. Xobb. It's a... a pleasure to meet you. I've been out of contact for a while... like a couple years. Do you know if Machina has advanced enough that there is a faster way to get to Luca then by on foot?"

"_Sure. There's a device called a Hover, and there are the shuttles. My somebody said that they are similar to an Auto- mobile from the planet Earth, just that instead of wheals, they float above the ground. You could also contact Taxi Cid or the Celcius, but I am unsure as to how. I need to go now, the food is on fire."_

Xander blinked multiple times as the com-sphere shut off. "Ooookaaaay then. She gets stranger every single time I speak to her. Much, _much_ stranger." Xander turned to his team,"Supposedly there is a vehicle called a Hover and something called a shuttle that should get us to Luca faster."

"Or," Roston cut in, "We could try not being total idiots."

"Hey!" Xander cried out indignantly. "I resemble that!"

Roston shook his head and sighed. "I'll go back to Atlantis and get a Puddlejumper."

"Oh." Xander tilted his head to one side and then the other as he made a show of studying Roston. Finally, he said, "He looks like Roston, and he sounds like Roston, but the words out his mouth were logical, something is really not right about this situation!"

Roston shot his team members a haughty glare, "I'll have you know, I am a tactical genius!"

"Right." Xander replied sceptically.

"Sure you are mate." Cormac said and laughed outright.

"I'm not even gonna say it." Lisette replied.

"I'll be back in a couple minutes." Roston ignored their light hearted teasing and made his way through the town and back up the hill towards the Stargate.

When the Puddlejumper came through the gate, Xander, Cormac, and Lisette found themselves held at gunpoint, and in some cases, sword point. "Who are you, and what is that machina?"

Xander blinked, he hadn't even seen them appear. Where they fuck had they come from? Last he had seen, the soldier wannabes had been by the fountain! "Name's Xander Payne."

"Oh Yevon..." The man activated his com-sphere. "Sir! This is Mervo Lantac. I'm standing by the Stargate with _Xander Payne_. What should I do?"

"_Are the other Guardians with him?"_

Mervo looked the group over and then looked at the ship, "I don't believe so, Sir."

"_Find out where they are going, and then let them pass."_

"Yes Sir." Mervo shut of his com, "Sir Xander, what brings you back to Spira?"

Xander shared a look with his team, "I'm looking for my Summoners."

Mervo looked slightly sad. "Head to Besaid, and when you touch down at the beach, tell Squad sixty five that Lantac sent you. It will grant you passage. If you are hailed while still in the sky, let them know who you are immediately, or you will be shot down."

Xander nodded dumbly. Why did he have a feeling that Spira had changed a lot in the last two years. Before, they could do damn near whatever they had wanted, and no one would care.. but now? This could be bad. "Is it alright if we make a stop in Luca?"

"Yes Sir." Mervo replied, "The Al Bhed Squad A is currently on patrol there. They will most definitely hail you while you are still in the sky. Again, tell them that Lantac has granted you passage. Once our Temp Leader gets out that you are here, and what your ship looks like, you will no longer have any problems, Sir."

"Thank you." Xander said.

---

Eight hours later the four members of SGA-18 had finished their shopping in Luca and were on their way to Besaid. Xander had noticed some _huge_ changes as they flew. Such as cities that hadn't been there before, and airships flying to and from said cities. No one had given them problems in Luca, but he had easily noticed that they were followed by a group of armed teens the entire time they were there.

"There is no logical way for this to work, you know." Lisette said as she looked into her new items pouch for the fiftieth time in the last three minutes.

"I know." Xander replied.

"I mean, it's as if I'm looking into an empty room, not into a pouch the size of my hand."

"I know." Xander repeated.

"But, I don't get it, I mean, sure I've seen this before with your pouch, but still, how do they make them, and how do they make so many of them?" she continued.

"You know," Xander replied. His voice was slightly exasperated as he continued. "My friends and I, when we were first brought here, were a lot more accepting than you people are."

"Well, that's because you and your friends aren't geniuses of such a high caliber as us." Roston replied smugly.

Xander rolled his eyes but didn't comment. "We're here."

Cormac nodded once before he pulled the Puddlejumper to a slow decent. "It's beautiful, like a tropical paradise."

"There are flesh eating fish in the water...and birds bigger than the Puddlejumper that would like nothing more than to tear all humans from limb to limb. Oh, and there's the wolves and the elemental flans. But other than those things, the island really is quite homey." Xander replied.

"I think I'll stay in the Jumper." Cormac replied. He looked slightly green.

Xander burst out laughing but stopped when Cormac sent him a look filled with killer intent. "Cormac, it's really safe actually, I mean, I wasn't lying about the different fiends... but those fiends are some of the easiest things to kill on this entire planet."

"...I'm still staying in the Jumper."

"Fine, Doc. But remember, you stay here, you're all on your own, and everyone knows that in horror movies the black guy is always the first to go." Roston threw over his shoulder as he, Xander and Kally left the jumper.

Cormac grabbed his item pouch and followed the other three out of the jumper.

As they walked up the beach, Lisette gestured faintly with her head towards the cliff face. There was a group of armed men looking at them. This group looked slightly older than the groups they had seen so far. The men were wearing camouflage pants, black shirts, and green vests. They also had black headbands with metal plates that had the Yevon symbol. The men just nodded in their direction, so they supposed that meant they were fine to walk. Xander was growing increasingly worried though, as while he knew basic magic, and could fight it off, his team were normal soldiers with no special abilities. Well, at least not special in accordance to Spira.

---

As they walked, Xander noticed that like in Guadosalam and Luca, a the faint sound of music could be heard, only this time, he actually recognized the song as the Besaid Theme song. Akail had played it on his iPod. "Hey... Uh.." Xander stopped walking for a moment and looked towards the path on his right. "Do you guys mind if I take a quick detour? ...One of my friends, his name was Akail, I would like to..."

"But don't we got--"

"Roston, shut up." Lisette cut in. "Xander, go ahead. We'll be waiting right here, okay?"

Xander smiled slightly and took off up the hill to the right, as he left the clearing he overheard Lisette berating Roston, "Did you pay attention to the briefing on Spira at all? Xander's friend Akail was shot to death. I'm pretty sure it happened here."

Xander sighed to himself and continued walking until he came to the cliff face. There was a house built there that he was pretty sure wasn't there the last time he had been to Besaid. The house was a two story house made out of what looked to be a multi-colored metal. It had ruins carved all over it. Xander knew almost instinctively that this house belonged to Batalax. He knocked on the over sized metal door, but no one answered. There were also no lights, which didn't surprise him, but it had been worth a shot.

Xander walked to the left of the house to the cliff face, there was a small memorial stone set up. It had written on it:

_Commander Natthan Akail, An American Hero._

_December 10__th__ 1989 to May 15__th__ 2008 (Well, technically August 8__th__ 2008 ...stupid unsent) _

_...He will be missed. Even if I am totally better than him at like, everything :D _

_We love you Akail. Feel free to haunt us again._

_We'll never forget you. 3_

"...Hey Akail." Xander sat down in front of the stone and placed a small pebble on top of it. "I'm sorry. We.. we should have known something was up. I mean, people don't just... come back from the dead and expect things to not have changed. Even in Spira there are some laws that must apply."

"You've got a pretty sweet grave stone though, it definitely looks like it was done by Batalax." Xander looked down the path towards where his team was waiting... where his friends were waiting. "I have to go. But... if you can hear me, I want you to know, you were one of the best friends I've ever had. I miss you. All of you guys actually." Xander stood up and brushed some grass off of his Atlantis uniform. He placed a hand on the stone for a moment before pulling it away, "Goodbye Akail." He turned and walked back down the hill without looking back.

His team was still waiting exactly where he had left them. "You ready to go?"

Xander nodded but stayed silent. He led them towards the path on the left and tried to hide his smile at his teams amazed expressions. As they walked over the bridges and past the multiple waterfalls, they began to near some of the ruins of ancient times. Xander was glad he still had one of Nysa's charm bangles. Course, he wasn't about to tell his team that.

"I said they're not here, ya! You know as well as I, they got stuff to do, you gotta contact the Sannin if it's urgent!" a voice shouted out from behind the next set of ruins.

Lisette raised one hand into a stop position, but Xander shook his head and continued walking. He had recognized the voice. "Wakka?"

Wakka's head snapped up and his eyes widened, "Sir Xander?"

The man beside him, a Yevonite by the look of him also looked shocked, "Sir Xander, it is an honor!" The man wore dark robes and held a staff in one hand. He also, like a lot of people Xander had seen today, was wearing a black headband with a metal plate with the symbol of Yevon.

"I'm sure," Xander replied politely, "Wakka, do you have a minute, I really need to talk to you."

The redhead nodded vigorously, "Of course, Senzo here was just leavin, ya?"

The man glared slightly, but nodded. "Of course."

They waited until the Yevonite was out of sight before they made their way back to the village. "So, Wakka... do you know where B and Ny are?"

Wakka looked down at his feet as they walked down the hill towards the village. "No... I'm sorry, ya?"

"You guys go check the place out. Here's some money," Xander reached into his pouch and pulled out some of the Gil he still had left after buying a couple item pouches.

"Thank you, _Sir_ Xander." Lisette said with a smirk as she took the money.

Xander sighed, they were never gonna let him live this down. He followed Wakka into one of the huts and wasn't that surprised to see a pregnant Lulu sitting on a couch. "Hey Lulu."

"Sir Xander!" Lulu made to get up, but Wakka put his hand on her shoulder.

"He's come looking for the others."

"Oh." Lulu gestured elegantly for him to sit down in a nearby chair. "Eight months ago, Ophelia and Luzzu were called away by Nysa. I'm not sure exactly what they were up to, but two months after that, Rikku came and took Yuna. We heard rumors that Yuna had joined the Gullwings in Sphere hunting... and that Nysa, Ophelia, and Luzzu had formed their own group of Sphere hunters called the Terrans, and then, suddenly, around a month later, we stopped hearing anything. It was as if they had just... disappeared. Then, around two weeks after they had vanished, a sphere was found outside the portal to the Farplane. The last time they were seen... was four months ago. The Sannin know where they went, or at least they have the people believing that they do... But I do not know for sure."

Wakka opened a cupboard on the end table beside his chair and pulled out a sphere, "It's better if he just sees, ya?"

Xander reached over and grabbed the sphere gently. He activated it and started to watch the events.

_Yuna was sitting on a bench with Rikku to her right, Nysa, Batalax and Luzzu were to her left. Behind Yuna stood a tall leather clad woman with silver hair, and two Al Bheds Xander recognized as Brother and Buddy. Behind Luzzu was Priest Lanemt from Djose temple. A shorter Al Bhed kid was crouched down next to the bench installing some sort of Machina. Yuna, Nysa, Batalax, Luzzu, Priest Lament, and the Al Bhed kid, all had the same headbands as he had been seeing all day._

None of the background looked familiar, all he could tell was that it was night time, and to their right was a staircase and a strange looking mailbox with a hat.

_Yuna spoke up softly, "Hello. We are the Gullwings---"_

"_--And the Terrans!" Batalax cut in. She, Nysa, Priest Lanemt, and Luzzu all gave the sphere a victory sign._

"_We are sphere hunters." Yuna continued as if she had never been interrupted, "please, if you find this sphere, send it to Lulu and Wakka of Besaid."_

"_You had all better stay in order while we're gone." Nysa said seriously._

"_Sorry for kidnapping Yunie, but if I hadn't things would have been disasteriffic, ya know?" Rikku blurted._

"_She was the most willing kidnappy victim in the history of kidnappy-ness!" Batalax said loudly. "But anyways, enough stalling, this sphere is kinda low budget so we don't know how much space we've got to record all we need to know... Err... I mean, all you need to know, cos we already know it, obviously, because we need to know it in order to be able to let you know it and..."_

_Luzzu interrupted her babbling with a kiss._

"_Wish we had met Luzzu years ago..." Nysa said quietly. "Anyways, babbling aside, B was right, we, in fact, do not have much time. We are no longer on Spira. Kimarhi found a sphere awhile back... and on the sphere... well, we recognized the people. But the sphere hadn't been filmed on Spira, and it gave us a gate address, so Shinra, Batalax, Luzzu and I, along with an Al Bhed Tech team, went to work on fixing the Stargate; it had been unstable since... since, the last time it was used just before the defeat of Sin. So, anyways, here we are. We're safe, and we're on a mission, so don't worry okay?"_

_Yuna nodded assuredly. "I'm sorry for not saying goodbye, but I was afraid you would try and talk me out of it... I had to do this, okay?"_

"_We'll take good care of each other." Luzzu announced. _

"_If something big comes up that the Sannin can not handle, send a sphere to this gate address." Batalax held up a piece of paper in front of the sphere. "It's not where we will be, but it **is** where we can be contacted from. The council knew I was leaving, and Baralai has been left in charge."_

"_Same. There is not a single person from my FORCE who didn't know I was going on this mission. Gippal knows how to contact me."_

"_Nooj is more than able to handle the League in my absence." Yuna said passionately. _

_Suddenly, the sphere shifted as if someone had grabbed it, a voice was heard, it sounded like a young female. "Materia! Yeah! Mine now!" The sphere showed the confused faces of the Spiran group for a second more before the sound of a battle broke out and the sphere was dropped to the ground forgotten._

_Black knee length boots came into sight. "Wait! Stop! Gyah! Don't kill each other!" Nysa shouted. Xander could see her come into full view once more. She bent down and picked the sphere up. "Guys, this is a friend of Sora's, her name is Yuffie. Yuffie, my name is Nysaria Croft, and these are..." the sphere vid went black._

Xander played the sphere again, and again, and again, until Wakka took it gently from his hand. Xander looked up, and the lost expression on his face was more heartbreaking than if he had been crying. Finally, he said, "After two years... I finally find a way back... and they're gone." he put his head in his hands, "They're gone.."

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	2. Chapter 1: Aftermath

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter One.

_**Aftermath**_

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_Two Years Previous._

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Nysa groaned softly and hid a yawn behind her hand. She propped an elbow up onto the table and rest her head on that hand. She hadn't been this bored since Math 10 back on Earth. She felt her eyes drifting closed but forced them open. It would not be good if one of the High Summoners were to fall asleep at a Yevon meeting. She looked to her right, Batalax was paying rapt attention to whatever the priest was saying. Nysa sat up straighter with a start, she hadn't even realized that he had been talking. She looked across the table at Rikku who was sound asleep with her head on the table, and sighed.

"Do you have something to add, High Summoner Nysa?"

Nysa blinked, she was ashamed she had gotten caught so easily. She finally replied, "Not exactly, but I was wondering if it would be possible for us to take a small break, we have been at this for four days already, and I highly doubt that any of us have gotten any sleep since we defeated Sin a week ago, I know I haven't."

The priest nodded slightly to himself, "All in favor of taking a half day recess?"

Rikku, Wakka and Nysa seemed to have a race of who could raise their hands the fastest, a couple seconds later Batalax, Yuna, Lulu, and a couple of priests also raised their hands.

"Majority vote. We will take a half day break and meet back here in twelve hours." The priest stood elegantly. The rest of the people in the room followed his lead and also stood at attention. They waited for the words that would set them free.

"Dismissed."

Rikku and Wakka ran out of the room as if it was on fire.

"Uhh, Hehe." Yuna shook her head at her ex-guardians actions and followed them out of the room.

Batalax went up to the priest and began talking once more.

"Come on B, let's go find something to eat." Nysa dragged Ophelia out of the room a couple mintues later, after giving the priest a half nod out of respect.

"Aww, fine. But we were just getting to the interesting part!" Batalax whined as she allowed herself to be pulled out of the room.

Nysa paused as they reached an intersection of hallways, "Uhh, this all looks really familiar, any idea which way to go?"

"Any way but that way." Batalax replied, she glared down the left hallway as if it had done her personal harm, and considering their history with Bevelle, it just might have.

"Dare I ask why?"

"That way leads to the cells, the evil ones that hang above water. You know, the place Tara and I were locked in for eight days? While you and the rest of the group camped out in Macalania and tried to plan a rescue... but failed badly."

Nysa rolled her eyes good naturally, "Just be glad you didn't get thrown in the Via Purifico like Skye. And hey! It's not my fault I was the only one smart enough to avoid capture!" Nysa started walking down the right hallway with Batalax at her side.

After about an hour of taking random turns they found a place that was familiar, "Oh, look!" Nysa pointed at a reception desk, "That's where Skye and I went undercover to talk to Maester Kelk... we were framed for murder. Oh!" She pointed further down the hallway "That's where we first merged with our Aeons! I killed Seymour over there, but he was already dead, so it wasn't as satisfying as it could have been."

"Food?"

"Oh, yeah, right." Nysa smiled pleasently at the receptionist and led Ophelia out of the building, the two nineteen year olds winced at the sudden brightness, they had been in the temple for the past four days, so the natural sunlight was quite painful. "I can't wait until Hovers are invented... it'll save so much time."

"And energy." Batalax groaned. It was an hour walk from the temple to the city beyond, and that was when they moved at a fast pace. "Well, guess we had better get going. With us getting lost in the building, the others are probably already in the city, meaning we'll never find them."

"Eh, we'll find them. Don't worry. 'Sides, I gotta talk to Yuna before we go back to the meeting at midnight... and what's with that anyways, giving us half a day off? I mean, we haven't had any time to ourselves what-so-ever since we defeated Sin a week ago. I haven't been this tired since back on Earth, and I think it's starting to make me very irritable. The least the bastards could do is give us a whole day off... Grr."

Batalax picked up the pace slightly as her stomach rumbled ominously. "What do ya gotta talk to Yuna about?"

"I'm gonna ask if she would mind too terribly if I was released early. I'm not really one big on patience, I'm about ready to cast Ultima on everyone if they make me sit through another day of this." Nysa waved her hands dramatically. "And, I'm kinda... paranoid without any of my weapons. I mean, I understand them not wanting us to have them during the meeting, as politics can make people angry... but I've had them for so long I feel naked without them."

"I think Ultima is a little overkill, but I agree with you on the other parts, patience really isn't your thing, and I miss my weapons and Mr. Tikki too."

"As Becca would say... there is no such thin as overkill, just fire, and reload."

The two girls lapsed into a comfortable silence as they continued to walk, occasionally they had to stop to talk to a random person, or priest. They were constantly being mobbed by people wishing to thank them for getting rid of Sin. It annoyed them, but they just smiled and went with it.

The day was crystal clear, both girls guessed that it was probably about mid August, but in Spira it was hard to tell, as each place had it's own weather, or so it seemed. "So... what are you planning on doing now that the threat of Sin is done interfering with your life?" Nysa asked.

"Well, all I have planned so far is to go back to Besaid and be with my future husband. What about you?" Batalax replied.

"Mm... I have lots of plans, although I made a promise to Rikku that I have to fulfill before I do anything else... oh, and look, there she is! They must have been waiting for us."

"Hi!" Rikku called out, she waved her arm in the air energetically.

Nysa and Ophelia closed the space between them at a light jog, "Hey guys, thanks for waiting... we got turned around in the temple. That place has waay more hallways than it needs. Waaay more."

"I agree." Yuna replied.

"So, where to now, ya?" Wakka asked.

"Umm, Well, if you guys are interested, I know of a great restaurant around here that Skye and I went to often during the time we spent in the city." Nysa replied hesitantly.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Lulu replied.

"Cool. It's this way!" Nysa and Rikku linked arms and started to skip in the direction of the direction of the restaurant, "We're off to see the Wizard! The wonderful Wizard of Oz---"

"Who's the Wizard of Oz, and where is Oz? Is it on your planet?"

Nysa stopped skipping and tilted her head in a puzzled manner, "Uhh... it's a video. It's called the Wizard of Oz. It's basically as if someone wrote a script and then a bunch of people acted it out while being recorded by a video sphere."

"That sounds fun, I would love to see it." Yuna replied from behind them.

"There are lots of videos like that on the planet Earth, in fact, most of the people who act in the videos get really famous." Batalax explained.

"And here we are," Nysa gestured to the restaurant they had stopped in front of. It was oriental looking, with paper doors and unlit paper lanterns hanging from a wire surrounding the building. The roof was brown tiled and peaked. While the walls were a muted gray color. The building had a sign on the outside that said _'The Highlight, open from Tuesdays to Sundays.'_

"Isn't there a Chinese restaurant back in Castlegar called the Highlight?"

"Yep, that's why the place caught my eye in the first place, I loved the food back home at the Highlight... and surprisingly, the food here is nearly as good!" Nysa said. She opened the door with flourish and stepped into the candle lit restaurant. The five others followed after her quickly.

"..May I be of some help to you?" A server asked, she was a pretty brown eyed woman with long curly hair, she was wearing a red and white kimono and black sandals.

"We would like a table for six, please." Ophelia spoke up politely. She ignored the shocked look Rikku and Wakka gave her, they had never seen her act respectfully towards anything. She inwardly smirked, she had everyone so fooled, thinking she is just a crazy Tikki wielding psychopath. Okay, she had to admit, she really _is_ a Tikki wielding psychopath, but that's not _all_ she is.

"Right this way, Lady Summoners and Guardians." The woman smiled at them and led them to a back table that was enclosed and without window. "You will get much more privacy this way," the woman explained her actions.

Yuna thanked her gratefully. Honestly, even though she was used to it, the constant mobbing when people saw her or the others was starting to get to her. "Could we get some menus please?"

"Yes, milady, right away." The woman walked away, her steps were light and graceful.

"Okay, before we eat, I wish to ask one thing, would any of you mind terribly if I skipped out on the rest of the meetings? Politics are really... not my forte." Nysa had the grace to look slightly sheepish.

Lulu laughed outright, "I was actually wondering who would be the first to ask that." She shook her head ruefully, "I had honestly expected Wakka to break first." She ignored Wakka's indignant cry of Hey, and continued, "I honestly don't see why anyone would mind. I think we will be finished within the next day or so anyway. Besides, you and Batalax are partners in most things, so as long as one of you is there, I don't see how the Head Priest would be bothered."

"I'd skip out too, if I could, but I still have a bunch of stuff I gotta talk to them about on behalf of the Al Bhed." Rikku looked pained as she spoke. "I'm gonna have to sit through the rest of the meeting. Bleh,"

"Here are your menus." the server placed the six menus on the table and smiled, "I'll be back to take your orders in a couple minutes. Can I get the six of you anything to drink in the meantime?"

"Uh, Chocolate milk, if you have it." Batalax ordered.

"Um... a Mana Energy for me." Nysa said.

"Green tea for me," Yuna replied.

"Water with lemon." Wakka replied.

"Nothing for me, thank you." Lulu replied politely.

"Mana Ene-" Rikku started only to be cut off.

"She'll take a chocolate milk as well." Batalax cut Rikku off, she was horrified with the thought of sitting in on the rest of the meeting with an energy filled Rikku.

"Hey!" Rikku crossed her arms indignantly.

"I'll be back in a moment with your drinks." The woman left once again.

An hour and a half later the six of them had finished their meals. It was now nearing three in the afternoon.

"Well, I should collect my stuff from the hotel room and head out, it was a four hour fly from here to my sisters shop... and now that I can't fly, it'll probably take me around a day and a half, so I should leave while I still have light."

"Good idea, but I have something I need to do for you before you leave." Batalax exclaimed.

The six of them got up from their chairs and slowly made their way out of the restaurant, Wakka stayed behind to pay. "Well, I'll see you guys in a couple days?" Nysa asked rhetorically.

"Mm hmm." Yuna replied affirmatively.

"I'll meet back with you guys later, I'm gonna have a nap after Nysa leaves, catch up on some sleep that I've missed due to those damn meetings." Batalax said. She stalked off in the direction of their hotel dragging Nysa behind her.

Once in the hotel room, Nysa immediately changed out of the fancy clothing she had been wearing for the meeting and into her regular clothing. Now she wore tight black pants tucked into black rollerblades, a black low cut shirt with the sides held together by silver clasps, the shirt had quarter length sleeves that stopped just past her elbows. To finish her outfit, she had random bright colored item pouches tied to her and random weapons in sheaths. Nysa looked in the hotel mirror and remembered about her hair, she quickly undid the bobby pins holding it into a bun and let her long hair fall behind her, she put it into a mess of different braids and tied it back.

Batalax walked out of the bathroom and nodded towards her friend, "Good, you're already wearing them, that will make things much easier."

"Oh...kay?" Nysa replied hesitantly.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not gonna light you on fire or anything like that, or zap you with lightning, no matter how much my lightning likes you... I'm just gonna do a quick modification on your rollerblades. I already did it on the ones Skye gave me before she left."

Nysa sat down on the bed and fiddled with the end of one of her many braids. Batalax crouched on the floor and pulled Nysa's rollerblade clad feet into her lap. "What exactly are you doing?"

"You'll see, it's a surprise." Batalax pulled a black Permi-Marker out of her items pouch. It was the Spiran equivalent of a Sharpie permanent marker, only unlike Sharpies, Permi-Markers were actually permanent. "Okay... do not move a single muscle, if I mess up, it's very likely that your feet will explode."

Nysa's eyes widened and she felt herself hold her breath. She watched Batalax draw an intricate and beautiful design on each of the rollerblades. It took around ten minutes in total before Batalax seemed happy with the designs, finally, the black mage nodded curtly and stood up, she brushed her purple and black kimono off as if to get rid of any dirt that may have attached itself to her.

"So, what did you do?" Nysa asked curiously.

"Stand up, and I'll tell you if it worked or not."

"Okaaay..." Nysa stood up, "So, what's supposed to happen?"

Batalax gave a cheer and spun around once in place, "Woohoo! It worked! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I'm the best." She rocked back on her heals and smiled like a Cheshire cat. "I added the magic effect 'Float' to your rollerblades. Now, you don't have to worry, no matter what kind of ground you are on, it'll be perfectly smooth, and you will always be one inch away from everything. On the down side, it means it would be physically impossible for you to kick anything while wearing them, but thats what you have all your nifty weapons for."

Nysa crouched down and attempted to put her fingers under the wheels, she managed with no problem, the wheels actually raised a bit so that they were an inch away from her. "Oh, that is awesome! Thanks B!" She hugged the taller girl, and yes, even with an extra four inches of hight, Batalax was still taller than her by quite a bit. "Contact me through Com-sphere when the meetings done, okay?"

"Will do!" Batalax saluted and stood at attention. "Anything else, MAM?"

Nysa laughed, "Stand down Lt. Colonel."

"Yes, MAM!" Batalax grinned and threw herself at the bed not even caring if she was wrinkling her kimono, "Now get out of here and let me sleep."

"Fine, fine, I know when I'm not wanted. I'll see you in a couple days." Nysa turned the light off and closed the door behind her. She then made her way out of the hotel and quickly picked up speed once on the road. If she could keep this pace up for at least ten hours, she would make it out of Macalania forest by nightfall and be able to camp out in Remiem Temple.

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	3. Chapter 2: Setting Up Shop

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Creevey Tolins, Mollayna Sortok, Steev Des'mar, Fai Merryworth, Red Soks, Rinder Kail, Mick Kail, Torzo Kail, Zairen Kail, Gordos Alkin, Carma Sandra, Priest Grevens, Tamern Zeld, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Two.

_**Setting up shop**_

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Nysa awoke slowly with a content smile. This place really was quite peaceful, it would need a little work, but with time, Remiem Temple was to be her home. During the first day of meetings in Bevelle, the lead priest had pretty much begged for their forgiveness, and he deserved to beg with all he had put the three high summoners through during the last fifteen months. Needless to say, legally, Remiem Temple was now hers. Though why Batalax had asked for a huge chicken dinner as the thing that would make her forgive them... Nysa would never know.

The Alchemist rolled over and pushed herself into a sitting position. She looked around sleepily, by the amount of light streaming through the stained glass windows, she would guess it was around eight in the morning; that meant she had overslept by three hours, she must have been more tired from those meetings than she had previously thought. She still had another six hours of travel before she would reach her sisters shop, she had hoped to get there by noon or sooner... but she figured she'd hang around Remiem for another day or two instead. There was a lot to do if this was to be her home.

Nysa stood up from her sleeping bag and started to look around, she hadn't been to Remiem since March, but the place looked pretty much the same, except that it looked less dusty than it should have, as if someone had done some cleaning lately. Nysa strangely believed that the Fayth must have had something to do with it.

Thinking of Fayth, Nysa walked out of the small room she had slept in and made her way to the Chamber of the Fayth, Remiem had no trials, besides getting the door open, but she and the others had already accomplished that with ease. The temple was almost eerily silent without the Hymn of the Fayth playing in the background.

She walked further into the chamber, the room was circular, and the floor was black stone as if it had been burned, she looked at the center of the room and her eyes narrowed, that was something she would have to fix. If it was anything like the game, under the black floor was a tunnel that led straight to the Farplane. That meant that ether the Farplane was actually on Spira and there was another Stargate, or, that under each Chamber of the Fayth floor, there was a portal that led to another world. Unless the Farplane you got to by going through the Stargate, and the Farplane below the chambers were two entirely different places... which now that Nysa thought about it, would make much more sense, the places didn't look that similar after all.

That meant that under the floor wasn't actually the Farplane, as the only way to get to that was through the Stargate... so what was under the floor? Out loud, she murmured to herself, "I'll get to it later, I still have a lot to do before then."

Nysa moved back out of the Chamber of Fayth. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do with that room yet. It would probably be too weird to use it for a bedroom or anything. Of course, she wouldn't be able to do anything with the room until she fixed the hole... that wasn't there yet.

So, what to do first? She decided to explore the place first. She had only ever been in the entrance hall, chamber of fayth, and the side room she had slept in the night before. But the Temple was just as big as all the other temples, it was built into the mountain after all.

The main floor was basically just what you saw when you walked into the temple. The main entrance that was big enough to be a ball room, the side room to the left of the Chamber that she had slept in the night before, the Chamber of Fayth, and a hallway on the right that led to a staircase that went both up and down. She went up the staircase first.

It looked to be one large room. Nysa was shocked to discover that it was a library. She wondered through the isles silently, her fingered grazed some of the books as she past. She decided on the spot that this was a room Batalax would love. She knew that it bothered the mage not knowing things, because even though Ophelia acted like a magic happy psycho. She was really one of the most introspective and intelligent people Nysa knew. The mage hid it so well though, that most people didn't even know. _Yes_, Nysa decided. She _had_ to show Batalax this room. She went back down the stairs to the main floor and then down another floor.

Nysa looked around, the stairs came out at the end of a hallway that split off into three different directions. Nysa chose the left hand way to explore first. It seemed to be just room after room of storage. She would have to go through the items in them to see if anything would be of use to her, and then see about selling the rest. If nothing else, once the rooms were empty, she'd be able to turn them into guest bedrooms. She reached the end of the hallway and started to turn back when she heard a sound. It sounded like someone talking to themselves. Nysa moved forward cautiously and opened the door of the room she had just been in. It was filled with storage just like the other rooms, but had a small table in the middle. An old man was sitting at the table.

"Uhh..." Nysa said, she then cleared her throat and tried again. "What are you doing here?" ...okay, that's not what she meant to say at _all_. She tried again, "I mean, uhh... hello?"

The old man looked up so fast he neck cracked. He stared at her with an almost fanatic sort of awe. "Someone's finally come?"

"Uhh..." Nysa repeated. "My name is Nysa Croft."

"Nysa Croft..." the old man repeated. He then shrugged and smiled in a way that made his eyes crinkle. "It's nice to meet you miss Nysa. My name is Creevy Tolins, I'm a scholar. I was sorting through the boxes in this room and must have fallen asleep. Priest Grevens is probably wondering where this old man has gotten to. Did he send you to find me?"

"Priest Grevens? No. Umm, Mr. Tolins, I uh, don't know how to ask you this... but, how long have you been down here?" The man was obviously an unsent, but he didn't seem to know this. It was hard to have to tell him this, as he seemed like such a nice old man.

"What ever do you mean, youngin? Only about an hour or two, I'd wager. I should probably be heading up though,"

"You're dead." Nysa suddenly blurted. "No one has used this temple for over five hundred years, not until now, at any rate. This temple is to be my home once I sort things out." She looked down and bit her lip, that was really insensitive of her to just...blurt out. She sighed, "I'm really sorry Mr. Tolins."

"Dead? My word, that would explain a lot. Am I an unsent then?" The old man replied, he seemed totally not bothered by his new less alive status. He seemed almost as if he was expecting it.

"Uhh... yeah. But I wont send you if you don't want me to. If you're still here it means you must have had something you really needed to do before you died."

"You are a summoner?" The man asked, seemingly really surprised, and sad.

Nysa scowled slightly when she remembered her new higher status, it made blending in _really_ hard, that's partially why she had chosen a forgotten, hard to get to temple as her new home, "High Summoner, actually..." she replied honestly, "Myself and two others defeated Sin permanently eight days ago."

"But, there is no way. Sin will just come back in another ten years..." Creevey replied sadly, "That's why I'm here. I'm looking for something to prove my theory of Sin being immortal. Most of Yevon have claimed that I am a betrayer, and that I work for the Al Bhed. They've been after me for months, until I came across this Temple. Priest Grevens didn't believe that I was a betrayer, in fact, he also believed that Sin is immortal. He said for me to see if I could find any proof down here... and now, here you are."

Nysa had a suspicion that Priest Grevens was the reason this man was dead. "You were right, about Sin always coming back. He used the Final Summoning as the way for him to return, it just took him awhile. My friends and I came up with a different way to defeat Sin, a way that didn't involve the Final Summoning. We took down the being inside Sin without our summons. In reality, Sin too, was an unsent. The unsent Yu Yevon. We defeated him eight days ago, and sent him to the Farplane for the last time. Sin is no more."

"Sin is... no more?" Creevey replied distantly. He then smiled and seemed to perk up before suddenly his shoulders slumped and he sighed, "What am I to do now?"

"I... I don't know. It's really your choice. You could wander Spira and see how much it has changed within the last five hundred years, or, well, I don't really know. This is my home now, but you were here long before I every was, so feel free to stay. I don't know if you've had a chance to explore or not, but there's a really big library on the top floor... although, I'm going to have to see what I can do about getting the books updated."

"A library upstairs? Why ever did he send me down to these dusty storage rooms th-- Oh." Creevey sighed, "It would seem that I was much too trusting."

"If it makes you feel any better, my friends and I were also on the run from Yevon before we defeated Sin. All of the Maesters besides Ronso Kelk were unsent, and they were running a very corrupt operation. We tried to stop them, and in doing so, caused them to turn the whole world against us. They killed one of my Guardians before we managed to defeat Sin. Of course, now that the Maesters have all been sent, the Yevonites are begging for our forgiveness. After everything they put us through the last year and a half, they actually expected us to take over their religion." Nysa shook her head and laughed slightly, "I'll never understand politics."

"I think... I will wonder Spira. But then, do you mind if this old man comes back to stay? As an unsent, I do not have many rights, and there is really no place for me to go besides the Farplane, but I am much to young to go on to the great beyond!" he gave a self depreciating laugh and looked at his old weathered hands. "Much to young."

Nysa grinned, "Well, Mr. Tolins, you are more than welcome to live here with me. I would probably get lonely living all on my own anyways. I think I'm going to go explore the rest of this place though, would you like to come?"

"That would be wonderful, child."

Nysa walked back towards the stairs talking animately with Creevey, this time she went down the hallway directly in front of the stairs. The two Spirans came across room after room of bedrooms on each side of the hall, and a large kitchen at the end, she guessed that back in the day, the bedrooms had belonged to the kitchen staff. Nysa looked over the kitchen carefully, it was nice, and more high-tech than she would have expected. But then again, it didn't surprise her that Yevon didn't seem to follow its own laws regarding machina. She _had_ been to Bevelle after all.

The kitchen was large, extremely large. It was more the kind of kitchen you would find in a really fancy big restaurant. The kind of kitchen that twenty chefs would be able to make twenty different meals...each, without once bumping into another chef. All the appliances were a shiny silver, and all of the counters were a black marble, the only thing that would have made the kitchen nicer, would be if there was natural light shining through windows, but being underground stopped that from ever being possible. Nysa sighed and went to see what was in the cupboards, this kitchen was much too big for just her and Creevey.

"What's this? Guests?" A motherly voice spoke from behind them. Nysa pulled her hand away from the cupboard she was about to open as if she had been burned and turned around quickly. Her hand automatically hovered over her items pouch. The woman who had spoken, was elderly, short and slightly plump, she had a mop of blond curls on her head, and her face had a lot of wrinkles from smiling. Nysa dropped her hand back to her side, this woman meant nobody harm.

"Uhh," Nysa wasn't sure what to say. Just how many people, unsents, were still, uhh, not living but here?

"Mollayna!" Creevey spoke suddenly, "You're an unsent too?"

"It would seem so," the elderly woman spoke. "I feel like I've been asleep for a long time."

"Five hundred years, or so, give or take a few years." Creevey replied with a grin. He grabbed Nysa's hand and pulled her to his side, "This is High Summoner Nysa Croft. She owns this temple now, and is going to turn it into her home. She said we could stay if we want to!"

"Really?" The older woman seemed to perk up, "Everyone, we can stay!"

Nysa watched the ongoing drama with wide eyes, when the old lady had spoke up, people started to appear as if out of the woodworks. It looked as if the entire staff from Remiem Temple was still here.

When people stopped appearing, Nysa was left standing beside Creevey with around fifty five people in front of them. There were around twenty people standing behind the woman named Mollayna, all with aprons, so Nysa assumed that these were the kitchen staff. To the left of that group was a tall buff looking man, behind him were around ten men, all of them had belts around their waists that held tools, Nysa assumed that these were the staff that went around and kept things in working order. The next group was led by a tall willowy woman, behind her stood another group of around ten people, Nysa glanced at them and realized that they couldn't be anything other than a garden staff. She didn't remember Remiem having a garden though. But then again, she hadn't explored the outside at all, but in the game, there had been no place for a garden. The last group was led by a strong looking man who looked to be four foot nine at most, behind him were ten people, all holding cleaning tools. This had to be the cleaning staff. The last five people were spread out, as if they didn't belong to any set group, there was a tall strict looking man holding a book in one hand, and a cane in the other that he was leaning heavily on. The next was a woman with long dark red hair, she looked friendly, and slightly impatient, she was standing with three men all with the same color of hair. The three men all seemed strangely impatient too.

All of them were looking at her expectantly. Nysa cleared her throat to stall for time, and then she started to speak. "Hello. I am Nysa Croft... the new owner of this temple. Uh, all of you are welcome to stay here, as I'm sure the world has changed a lot since you last wandered it. Of course, that's not to say at all, that any of you are being forced to stay, I just want to make it clear that the decision is yours, completely. Remiem temple has been forgotten by most of the world, and that is the biggest reason I have chosen it to be my home. As one of the three High Summoners, I'm afraid I do not get very much privacy in this world right now. I'm hoping that with time, this will change and I'll be able to live like a normal person, but for now... I'll admit, I'm hiding. Also, if you have decided to retake your old positions, just tell me, and I'll see about your pay." Nysa went silent to see what they would say, she sort of felt like a general standing in front of her troops.

The unsent talked quietly between themselves for a couple minutes before they seemed to come to some sort of decision. Mollayna spoke first, "My name is Mollayna Sortok, and I for one, have worked in this kitchen since I was a small child, I do not know anything else, as you will find is the case with most of us. Myself, and my fellow kitchen staff will stay and work for you, Lady Nysa."

"Thank you, Mollayna, I will talk to you and your crew later about your pay." Nysa replied. Suddenly, her day seemed a lot more busy than it had been an hour ago. She highly doubted she would get everything on her agenda done.

She turned to the next group as the tall buff man started to speak. "I, are, Steev Des'mar. I do repair. I very like much to stay working here. My team as same."

Nysa smiled at the man, it would take her awhile to understand his speech completely, but she would manage. "Thank you Steev, as with Mollayna, I will talk to you later about your pay."

"I am Fai Merryworth," the gardener spoke in a gentle voice, "Most of us wish to stay, but is it alright if we first explore Spira to see how the wilderness has changed in the years we've been asleep?"

"Of course," Nysa replied immediately. "Take as much time as you need, all of you. I would understand completely if all of you wished to wander the world first. In truth, I don't know how much I will even be here the next year, I have a lot to get done. But remember, even if you leave, you are all still welcome here, just, please don't tell anyone you come across that this is where I live. Everyone that needs to know, already does."

The woman nodded and smiled gently, "Thank you, Lady Nysa." she stepped back for the next man to speak.

"Name's Red Soks. I clean stuff, and am really good at it. My team and I will be staying for sure, but we'll need some new supplies. Our stuff is a little... old." the short mans grin seemed to take up his entire face.

Red Soks? Nysa almost laughed but held it in. she was pretty sure there was a sports team for Football or Baseball or something in the USA back on Earth called the Red Socks... or maybe it was a Hockey team? She really didn't care. She hated sports, unless she was the one playing. "Okay, I'll see about getting you some supplies as soon as I am able, all of you, actually."

"Actually," The red head that didn't seem to belong to any one group, spoke. "My three brothers," she gestured for the three nearly identical red headed guys beside her, "Rinder, Mick, and Torzo, along with myself, our job was to get a shopping list from Molly, Red, Fai , Steev and Gordos, and go to the nearest town to stock up. My name is Zairen Kail, by the way."

"Mm. Nice to meet you. Do the three of you plan on continuing your old jobs?"

"Oh yeah." Rinder exclaimed excitedly.

"Our job was always the most fun, we had our own chocobo drawn carriage and everything." Mick explained.

"The four of us will be off as soon as we get the lists." Torzo said, his voice was deeper than his two brothers.

"Is our carriage still around?" Zairen asked, but she sounded doubtful.

"I really don't think so," Nysa replied. She hadn't seen a chocobo drawn carriage in all the time she had been in Spira. "I'll see about finding you guys one though, for now though, you could probably use an item storage space."

"Those are really, really, expensive though. I don't think we'd be able to afford even three of those if we used all the money in the Remiem Vault." Zairen replied doubtfully.

"Uh, They're not that expensive, I have seven of them on me at most times. They only cost a couple hundred thousand Gil each." she made that much and more fighting all the fiends that she had the last year and a half. She had one item pouch just for money. It was like her personal vault... wait, "Remiem Vault?"

"Yes, it's the vault that we get paid out of, and where Zairen takes money from to get the items on our lists." Mollayna replied.

"I wonder if it's still there, or if it's been looted..." Nysa murmured, "No matter, for the time being, I'll lend you one of my item pouches."

"Thank you, Lady Nysa." Zairen replied. The redheaded woman bowed her head slightly and stepped back.

Finally, the last man spoke, he was tall, his posture was straight, and something about him reminded Nysa of the character Percy Weasley from Harry Potter. She wasn't sure if she would like him or not. "My name is Gordos Alkin. I am the Librarian, and I wouldn't have left, even if you had _tried_ to force me. That library is my life, and you would do well to respect it. I will, however, be taking a large stipend from the Vault, shall it still be there, to update the books. I have five hundred years of material to catch up on, after all."

Nysa grinned, she liked this guy, a lot. "Go ahead. I was planning on having it updated anyways, so far, the Library is my favorite place in the Temple."

The man nodded once, curtly and stepped back into line with the others.

"Well, I'm going to go explore the rest of this place, if someone would be willing to show me around, that would be great." Nysa exclaimed.

One of the chefs stepped forward, "My name's Carma Sanda, I'll show you around, Milady."

"Please, just call me Nysa."

"Okay, Lady Nysa." The tall five hundred and twenty-something blond led her out of the room, she was followed quickly by Creevey. Everyone behind them burst into action, the Chefs to clean their kitchen and get rid of all dust, along with see if there was anything eatable left, which after five hundred years, was very unlikely. Mollayna stood behind everyone with a list and wrote down everything they told her they needed, which was pretty well everything.

The Cleaning crew took off in different directions with a pad of paper to take notes on what needed to be cleaned, while Red went through a side door that led to a large dining room. He sat down on a chair at the large hundred person table and began to write out what cleaning supplies he and his team would need.

The repairmen all split up and went in different directions to see what in the Temple would need to be repaired. Steev stayed in the kitchen to go over all of the appliances to see if they still worked or not. It had been five hundred years since their use, after all.

Fai and her fellow gardeners, went through an exit that would take them to under the main chamber of the temple. It was an arena type place, with lots of different paths leading up to the entrance to the temple. The entire place was warded with so much white magic, that a mage would be able to cast their highest level spells and not even make a scorch mark on any of the walls, she and the rest of her team payed little attention to the arena though, instead they walked up one of the paths until they were at the base level of the temple, on the outside. She tutted slightly at the sight. The entire temple was barren of any plants, it would take a lot of work to get it back to how it used to look. Before, the pillars and posts that stood out in many places on the temple actually had a purpose, they had been for climbing plants. Fai nodded once at her team and began to take notes, she would see about obtaining the plants she would need while traveling.

Gordos hadn't even waited for Nysa to leave the room before he went off in the direction of the library.

"So, what all have you seen so far, Lady Nysa?" Carma asked cheerfully.

"Well, I've seen the main floor, the Library, The left hallway, which seems to be just storage rooms, this hallway, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say is the Staff quarters?" she continued talking at Carmas nod, "I've seen the kitchen at the end of this hallway, as obviously that's where we're coming from just now... and, that's it so far."

"Oh, we have lots to see, then. Lots and lots."

"Lead the way, miss Sandra." Creevey replied, his forehead crinkled as he smiled.

They went down the right hallway, it was bare of any doors, and at the end was a staircase going down. Nysa shrugged and headed down the stairs, personally, it seemed like a waste of hallway, but who was she to complain? The next floor was made up of a short hallway going to another staircase, and two doors opposite each other. Nysa guessed the rooms behind those two doors must be pretty big for it to take up the whole floor. She also noticed that none of the stair cases went straight down, and in fact led them deeper and deeper into the mountain.

"To the left, is the Armory, and to the right, is the Vault. Only the Kail siblings have a key so you'll have to ask them before..."

The door swung open and Nysa placed her lock pick back into her item pouch, she sent Carma a wink and stepped into the room, she stepped out a second later coughing. Carma and Creevey crowded around her worriedly, asking her if she was okay. Finally, a minute of coughing later, Nysa straightened and said wryly, "That room needs to be cleaned. Really, really, dusty. But the money's still in there, just... dusty. Really." Nysa was actually kind of shocked at the amount of money in the vault, confused too.

Carma wrote a note in her book, to tell Zairen to give Red a vault key so the room could be cleaned.

"Out of curiosity, why does Remiem Temple have a vault, or so much staff, in the first place?" Nysa asked.

"Remiem Temple isn't in a town, and it's the last stop before the country of Zanarkand, which as you may know, is quite far away, so our job was to keep this place running as if it was a hotel, for the Summoners that would pass through... although, by the end, it had gotten to the point that it wasn't just Summoners that came to Remiem, anyone who happened to come to the Calm Lands, weather it be for training against the fiends for the warrior monks of Bevelle, to civilians who thought the place would be a good tourist spot. Everyone came to Remiem."

"So, it was treated like it's own one building town, then?"

"Exactly." Carma replied. She opened the door on the other side of the Vault, after making sure the vault door was closed tightly and locked. "This is the Armory." Carma blinked once, and then again, "Or, it was at one time." The room had a leak, it looked as if the crack went all the way up the mountain, all the weapons and armour had rusted away to nothing. "I'll make a note for the Steev."

"Err..." Nysa closed the door of the armory once they were out of it, "I think that room may have a bit of a mold problem, it's best the door stay closed, I'll have to tell Steev that him and his men should see about wearing protective equipment and breathing masks while in the room so they don't get sick." She wasn't sure if Unsents could get sick, as they were already dead, but she had seen them be able to get hurt, and they needed healing just as much as people who were alive. She really didn't understand it.

"Down the stairs then?" Creevey asked.

"Yep." Nysa led the way down the stairs, and as they went, she noticed that this staircase went down further than the last one.

"The next floor is the master living quarters and the Guest living quarters, it's reinforced with a lot of white magic, so if there were ever an earth quake or something, the floor wouldn't be harmed at all." Carma said as they walked down the stairs. "I've never actually seen the master quarters, but I have seen the guest quarters, they are quite nice. The guest quarters are where the Summoners and Guardians stayed while in Remiem, and the master quarters was where Priest Grevens lived, the only person allowed in there was Tamern Zeld, she works for Red. Priest Grevens had a secrecy spell that he used on her, so I don't have any idea what's in the room, but we should be careful. Priest Grevens wasn't as nice a man as everyone thinks he was, in fact, I wouldn't dismiss the thought that he could be the reason we all died."

"Mm..." Nysa replied noncommittally. The stairs finally stopped, and she could see that they led to yet another hallway, but this time, the hallway went right only. There was a set of large red double doors on the left side of the hallway, and on the right was a small grey door. At the end of the hallway, the stairs went down again.

"The gray door leads to outside. We'll have to check that out on the way back up, because the exit may not be there anymore." Carma explained. "The red door, leads to, well, just open it and you'll see. Everything in there should be really preserved, because of all the protection spells."

Nysa shrugged and swept past her two taller companions to open the double doors. To the left corner, closest to the door was a set of corner bookshelves and a small cherry wood table and matching chair, to the right was the same. She walked a bit further into the room, to the left corner on the other side of the room, there was another corner book shelf, the same went for the the right corner. The two book shelves stopped just short of a large golden fireplace directly across the room from the entrance. There were two red corner couches in the middle of the room, facing the fireplace, but with enough room between them that you could walk right from the door to the fireplace without having to go around anything. To the left of the room, in between where the book shelves ended, was a door, it was the same on the right side. All together, with the dark red walls, the room was beautiful, but the color scheme would have to change, she was no Griffindor.

Nysa stepped further in the room and spoke her thoughts out loud. "It's beautiful, but the colors... need to be changed. I'm thinking I'll paint the walls a royal blue, replace the red couches with black leather ones, and plate the fireplace with silver instead of the gold it is right now."

"That sounds so, rich sounding." Creevey replied, "I think it'll look great, let's check out the other rooms now." the old man seemed to be really enjoying the tour of the building.

"To the right is the guest quarters, and to the left, the master quarters." Carma said.

"Right first then." Nysa walked to the right and side stepped the couch, she stood in front of the door to wait for the others and opened it dramatically once they were there. She was having fun on this tour too.

The door opened into a gold plated hallway, it was so shiny it actually hurt her eyes slightly. There was three doors on each side of the hallway. She walked to the first one on the left side and opened it, it was a beautiful bedroom, the walls were painted a cream color, while all the furniture, a desk, chair, bed, wardrobe, and vanity, were all made out of the same beautiful cherry wood as the tables in the other room. The bed covers were a light purple. "Oh, pretty." she commented before closing the door and moving to the next room on the left, it was the same design exactly but the bed covers were pink instead of purple. Nysa closed the door and moved to the third room on the left side, she opened it only to find that it was a bathroom. Everything in the bathroom was made out of white marble with pink flecks. Nysa stepped out of the room and closed the door. "Are the rooms on the right the same?"

"Mostly, but for males." Carma replied.

Nysa peaked into the male bathroom and saw it was the same as the other one, just made out of black marble instead of white. "Oh, I like the black." she looked into one of the male rooms and saw that the design was exactly the same as the females, just the bedspread was blue instead. The last room had a green bed spread.

"They are really nice rooms." Creevey said, but his voice said that he was getting board with this part of the tour. He wanted to see what else this old Temple had inside it.

"They are." Nysa agreed, already making her way out of the room and across the living room to the other door. She peaked through it and shook her head in disgust. The room was made out of gold, entirely. The walls were gold plated, the furniture was pure gold, the floor was nice though, it was a black marble with silver flecks. Nysa closed the door behind her and scowled, "I think I'll stay in the guest quarters for now, until that room can be completely redone."

"It's so... shiny." Carma said distastefully. "Normally, shiny is nice... but.."

"You don't need to explain, I agree. Let's move this tour onwards. How many floors are left anyways?"

"Two, Lady Nysa."

Nysa's eyebrows raised, she had never imagined the place to be as big as it actually was. From the outside of the temple, you could see that it was big, but you couldn't see any of the lower levels, so it didn't look _this_ big. Batalax was gonna be _so_ jealous that it hadn't been her that demanded for her own temple. Nysa grinned. "Lead the way then, Carma!"

"Onwards then!"

The next floor was made up of one big room, Nysa immediately knew what the room was, it was a gym. The floor, walls, and even ceiling were covered in a light green padded material. Nysa smiled at her companions, "Why is there a gym in the temple?"

"Most of us, do not get out very much. We never have, the gym was designed to keep everyone in shape. I do not know how the world is now, but back then, civilians could have been called upon any time to fight against Sin or it's spawn, that's partially why there was an armory in Remiem, because of the amount of people, we could have, at a moments notice, became our own army. I'll admit though, none of us, except for Steev seemed to take training very seriously."

Nysa just continued to smile as she looked around. The room was huge, and completely empty aside for a door on the other side and the stairs they had just went down. Nysa stepped further into the gym, judged how much distance she had, and then flew into a series of gymnastics moves that she never would have been able to learn without the guidance given to her from the sphere grid... and her own determination to learn. She landed on silent feet and felt herself grinning widely. She turned at the sound of clapping and blushed. For a moment, she had forgotten about her companions. They were both watching her with wide eyes, and were clapping enthusiastically. Nysa fingered the end of one of her braids as she smiled sheepishly. "I've been stuck in Bevelle, in meeting rooms for the last week, being able to have space to move around in is awesome." she explained.

"Well, that was very good, all the same. Shall we move on to the next floor?" Carma asked.

"Sure thing!" Nysa moved to the doorway across the large room and opened it, she shot a glance over her shoulder at the gym and smiled, she had a lot of plans for it. Maybe she would set up something Tomb Raider style?

They walked down the next flight of stairs in near silence, except for Nysa who hummed the Hymn of the Fayth under her breath. "Welcome... to the room that by Yevon standards... shouldn't exist."

Nysa gasped, and her eyes went wide. This... this shouldn't exist here!

"This was here long before the temple had been built, this is the reason the temple was built in the first place. Priest Grevens wanted to know what all this stuff did, but he couldn't outright ask anyone, as this stuff is all illegal to use... so he asked to build his own temple, and convinced his own three sisters to become Fayth, they weren't even out of their teens, and they gave their lives for their brother, who cared about nothing other than this room." Carma said quietly.

Creevey was scowling and muttering about hypocrites.

The room was filled with machina, except it wasn't machina from Spira. If Nysa didn't know better, she would say it was taken from Stargate Atlantis... but maybe it was, there was a Stargate on this world. Maybe the Fayth hadn't just sent her to a planet that was a video game back on Earth... maybe Bahamut had sent them to a universe full of places that were video games or series's back on Earth. "Ancient tech... I don't know how this got here, but I may be able to use some of it... most of it requires a certain gene to be able to use though."

"You know what this stuff is?"

"I think so." Nysa replied distantly. She would _so_ have to show this room to Becca.

"Let's continue the tour," Creevey said, he was eying all the machina warily as if it was going to come alive and bite him.

"This is the last floor of the temple." Carma said.

"But then what does that door lead to?" Nysa pointed to the door on the other side of the Ancient lab.

"Go check it out. I'll wait right here for you,"

Creevey went to the door, and after undoing the multiple locks, opened it and went down the stairs beyond it. Nysa watched Carma for a moment before following. The woman had been super nice, but she seemed to be oddly fanatical about the machina in the room. Nysa hoped that she hadn't made a mistake in allowing the Remiem Staff to stay. Her instincts weren't telling her that they were dangerous, which probably meant that they weren't, but she would be on her guard all the same. She continued to walk after Creevey in complete silence.

A couple times, Creevey actually looked back to make sure she was still there, he couldn't hear her, so it was hard to tell. Next time she was going first so he didn't have to keep looking back. At the bottom of the staircase, they could see a bright light.

"These stairs are different." Nysa said suddenly. "They're made out of stone instead of cement like the rest of the stairs. And they're not covered in carpet like the other stairs."

"You can tell what they are made of just by standing on them?" Creevey asked.

"I'm an Alchemist. I can tell what nearly everything is made of just by looking at it. It's instinctive." Nysa replied.

"Wow... oh!" Creevey exclaimed suddenly. He came to a stop and waited for Nysa to stop beside him.

"It lead down the mountain? Oh. Wow! This will save so much time." The doorway came out just behind the Monster Arena, which was now abandoned. All of the mans Fiends had banded together, killed him, and escaped. "This is extremely helpful, My sister lives like, a twenty minute walk away from here. This makes it so I can visit her within a half hour instead of a day."

"What is this building?" Creevey asked, he was looking over the monster arena.

"It used to be a place where people could battle fiends and win money or prizes, but it's closed down right now. If all goes well, sometime within the next two years, it will be turned into a chocobo ranch,"

Nysa looked up at the sky and scowled slightly, half of her day was gone, and all she had done was wander around her temple. She groaned inaudibly and began climbing back up the stairs. She still had to check out the chamber of Fayth, and see if she could explore the Farplane below it. Nysa decided that she would do that as soon as she got back upstairs.

They met up with Zairen as they were on the floor with the Vault. "May I take some money out to get the stuff on the lists?"

"Of course. But be careful in there, it's so dusty that it is hard to breath." Nysa replied. "If you'll wait a moment, I'll go get you an empty items pouch to take to Bevelle with you." Nysa ran up the stairs, down the hallway, up another flight of stairs and then made her way into the room she had slept the night before. She grabbed one of her items pouches and quickly emptied the contents of it into another. She saw her clothing on the ground from where she had dropped it the night before. She swallowed slightly and looked down at her chocobo pj's, bare feet, and sleep tousled hair. It was a wonder anyone had taken her seriously at all today. Nysa refused to be embarrassed, and instead took this time to quickly get dressed.

She changed into an outfit similar to the one she had worn the day before, they only difference being the shirt had no sleeves, she wore fingerless black gloves, and instead of rollerblades she was wearing her bright yellow combat boots. She also donned a pair of stylish goggles to protect her eyes, although at the moment they were around her neck. Her hair was put into a messy up-do, still with many braids throughout it. Once she re-equipped herself with weapons, she made her way back to the Vault. The people she passed on her way nodded to her respectfully.

"Here you are, Zai." Nysa handed the redheaded woman the empty black item pouch.

"Than-- thank you, Lady Nysa." Zairen said, she held the item pouch as if it were the holy grail. "I will return it to you as soon as I am able."

"Oh, you can keep it." Nysa replied. "I really didn't need it, I was using it for Cosplay clothing..." she trailed off slightly, "Err, Anyways, I have a lot to do today, but since the four of you no longer have your carriage, there are some Chocobos outside on each side of the temple that would get you to Bevelle just as fast. Out of curiosity, how did you get a carriage to Remiem anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Creevey asked.

"Remiem temple is nearly impossible to get to, that's why no one knows where it is anymore. You can't even get to it without a chocobo. You can get out of the temple without a chocobo, but it's a really hard, and dangerous climb."

"There used to be bridges... big wooden bridges. I wonder if Priest Grevens burned them when he left that last time." Zairen replied.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything... but how exactly did all of you die, and was it all at the same time?" Nysa asked. She was worried that whatever had killed everyone was still around.

"I... honestly don't know. But I think it must have been a poison, I remember I had just locked the door to the Vault, and then... everyone started to fall around me, that's the last thing I remember. I also have a faint recollection of the air being tinted green." Zairen replied.

"I'm sorry. That must have been difficult. I'm going to have to see about setting up an area effect null poison spell..." Nysa went silent as Zairen went into the vault. The older woman came out a few minutes later coughing.

"I.. see what you mean about dust. How did you get in the vault anyway, I have the only key, other than Priest Grevens, but he hasn't been alive for hundreds of years..."

"I'm a bit of a locksmith." Nysa replied. It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth ether. A lot of people didn't seem to trust thieves for some reason, so she tended to not tell people that that was her specialization. If people asked she just said she was an alchemist or a jack of all trades.

"Anyways, I have to go. I'll see you guys later. Creevey, would you please tell Steev and Red that the main living quarters the floor below this one are off limits? I will clean them personally. I don't mean to offend them or anything though, I just... I want to do them on my own, I think it would make this place feel more like home that way."

"I can do that, kid. You have fun doing whatever it is that you're going to do." The old man smiled cheerfully.

"Oh, and... can you maybe tell everyone that if they hear a loud explosion coming from the Chamber of Fayth... not to worry? There's something I need to do now that the Fayth are gone."

"The Fayth are gone?" Creevey repeated slowly, "Did they leave when you defeated Sin completely?"

"Yeah... something like that. Anyhow, There's something I need to check out in the Chamber... so can you tell people not to worry about explosions, oh, and tell them that no one is to go into the Chamber of Fayth, no matter how long I take, okay?"

"Not to worry. I think everyone has probably congregated in the Kitchen area, so I'll tell them."

"Thanks so much Creevey, you're a lifesaver!" Nysa grinned, gave a jaunty wave, and took off up to the main floor. She passed Steev on the way, "Creevey needs to talk to you and Red, he's one floor down with Zairen."

"I do thank Lady." the tall man replied, he passed her and headed towards the stairs going down.

Nysa smiled slightly, she had come to Remiem to be alone, but the people she had found were amusing, so maybe it wouldn't be all bad? Nysa stepped lightly into the Chamber of Fayth and looked at the floor. "So, I wonder if it's still there? Guess there's only one way to find out... Besides, I have another week at least before the others will be done in Bevelle..."

She stared at the floor for another full minute before she seemed to come to some sort of decision. "B will totally kill me for not bringing her along... but this is my Temple now, I have a right to know what secrets it holds." Nysa nodded to herself decisively and pointed her finger at the floor. She focused her energy and watched in silent awe as the floor visibly froze. She would never get over how awesome that power was, even if it did put her at greater risk from thunder and gave her a slight weakness to fire, just meant she would have to avoid the Thunder Plains if at all possible...and Ophelia when she was angry.

Nysa stepped back, pulled a grenade out of her weapons pouch and threw it with precision to the center of the frozen floor. She ducked behind the door just outside the chamber and winced at the sound of the explosion. She waited for the smoke to clear and moved back into the room; her plan had worked brilliantly, now in the center of the floor, was a circular hole big enough for four people to jump in it at the same time. Nysa walked closer and peaked down, all she could see was black.

"Hmm." she spoke to herself softly, "My control's not as good a Shiva, but I think I can manage... and as long as I don't lose control..." Nysa sat on the edge of the hole with her legs dangling, she focused her entire will on the hole, and slowly, inch by inch an icy staircase began to form, sweat began to form an her face as she continued to focus, finally after what seemed like hours, she felt the ice meet the bottom. She sat back with an explosive sigh. "Wow, I need more practice with that. It was so much easier when Shiva was actually around." she looked out of the room and noticed that by how the sunlight had faded, it probably _had_ been hours.

Nysa looked at her staircase for a moment before she backed out of the room and went to the side room. She folded up her sleeping bag and put it back her item pouch. She looked around the room to make sure she hadn't missed anything, pulled her goggles over her eyes, and then she made her way back into the chamber and down the stairs into the darkness beyond.

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	4. Chapter 3: Into the Depths

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Creevey Tolins, Mollayna Sortok, Steev Des'mar, Fai Merryworth, Red Soks, Rinder Kail, Mick Kail, Torzo Kail, Zairen Kail, Gordos Alkin, Carma Sandra, Priest Grevens, Tamern Zeld, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Three.

_**Into the Depths**_

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"Okay... this is dark, and... dark." Nysa looked over the edge of the platform she was on and jumped back with a gasp, it was a _very_ long way down, farther down than the view over the bridge going to Remiem. Nysa Croft _hated_ heights. She jumped carefully to the platform she was on to the floating pillar next to it, she still had no idea what this place was, just that there were a lot of fiends, and that there were a lot of pireflies. The fiends weren't scared off by her charm bangles either, so she had to fight them all, and they were strong, almost Omega Ruin type strong. Gah, thinking of fiends, there was another one.

Nysa dodged the lunge and with a muttered haste spell jumped over it and double casted Blizzaja. The bomb fiend turned to pireflies almost instantaneously. If she had been able to cast mental break with any kind of skill, she would have done that first... but she couldn't, so she didn't. She saw another three fiends take the one she had just killed place. She groaned, "I miss having lots of backup. I really do."

Instead of fighting them physically, she jumped to the next floating pillar and pulled three items out of her alchemy pouch, she mixed them together carefully. She chanced a look over her shoulder, threw the concoction, and jumped from pillar to pillar as fast a she was able so as to avoid the explosion. Even fifty feet away, the explosion still threw her from her feet, thankfully she had made it to the next platform and so was not thrown to her death. That woulda been a drag.

She continued to climb and jump through the maze for hours. Until finally, she found herself on a beautiful flower covered field that looked like it was actually part of the Farplane she and Batalax had visited back in May. "Okay... I know where I am now... finally. This is where Yuna met Shuyin..." She spun around and grinned, "so that means, I go this way and I'll get to see Vegnagun! I always wanted to see it up close... even if it was weak... okay so technically, I was just really strong, and wow, I need to stop talking to myself."

She went through the portal that would take her to Vegnagun. She looked up, and up and up, and still couldn't see the top. "Oh goody, more climbing." She grumbled to herself, but continued to climb all the same. She went through the trials easily, she had always been good at matching sounds to other sounds. If she had been able to learn how to read music, she would have been good with instruments, but as it was, music reading is far beyond her abilities.

Out of the blue, another group of fiends attacked. Nysa glared heatedly and pulled out some items, she mixed them together and threw the vial at the fiends feet. A second later a noxious green gas appeared where the vial had shattered and the fiends screeched in pain as the liquid acid devoured them within seconds.

Before she could do so much as gloat, she was tackled from behind by a very large wolf type fiend. Nysa winced as it's claws slashed through her left arm and side, she kicked out with all her strength, throwing the fiend off of her. She rolled to her feet and had to dive to her left as the fiend launched itself at her once again. "Okay... this is starting to piss me off." she murmured. Nysa eyed the fiend warily and slowly got to her feet, it did the same. Before she could catch her breath it dove at her once again and she parried it's claws with her daggers. "Damn it!" She cursed as she threw the fiend off of her once again, it had just tried to take a chunk out of her with it's teeth. She back flipped away to give herself some space, "Diamond Dust!" she cried out one of her favorite spells. The fiend, already wounded from her daggers, burst into pireflies as it was frozen solid and then shattered.

"Oh, Ouch." Nysa sat down and fingered her side, she winced at the amount of blood on her hand. "Cure." she held her hand over the wound and cast the highest level of cure she was able, white magic really wasn't her forte. Once the wound was closed enough that it wasn't bleeding as much, she cast cure on her arm. Once that was done, she downed an X-potion. The wounds both closed, but due to how they were healed, left very noticeable red scars that would turn white in the future. Nysa shrugged, she had never been embarrassed about scars. She had always been proud of any scars she got, as each one had a story behind them.

"Okay, maybe, I shouldn't have checked this place out on my own." the thief admitted to herself, "It's been so long since I played Ten Two... I mean, it's been around three or four years. "Gah." Nysa threw herself to the side to avoid a flying fiend that had attempted to take her head off. Nysa gripped her daggers and stood, the bird like fiend swooped again, but this time, she was ready for it. "HOLY!"

The fiend crashed into a pillar and fell to its death. Nysa grinned and put two fingers up in a victory sign. "Heh, stupid chirpy chirp." she jumped to the next pillar and paused, she could hear the faint sounds of music. It sounded like a pipe organ... like Vegnagun. The teens eyes widened and she took off from pillar to pillar towards the noise as fast as she could.

Once she got close enough she could see that, yes, it was Vegnagun. Nysa winced, Vegnagun wasn't supposed to be active for another two years! It was supposed to rest in the Farplane under Bevelle until then. She watched the giant bug like machine move around, it almost looked like it was... dancing? Nysa tilted her head to the side and blinked. Vegnagun was dancing. Now that she was closer she could make out the music as well, it was a bastardized version of Beethoven's '_Moonlight Sonata'._

"Okay, I'm officially weirded out." Nysa shook her head and closed her eyes before opening them again. When they were open Vegnagun was still dancing and playing a song from Earth. She tried pinching herself, but that didn't work either. She looked down at her two yellow and red daggers, she then looked up at Vegnagun. How was she supposed to take out something so large with her two tiny little daggers?

She jumped from the pillar she was on to the foot of Vegnagun_ ,_ she then jumped to the next foot and to the shell like body. Once she was near the top she jumped onto the control part where Shuyin had stood in the game. She pulled Tara's gun from her boot and leveled it at the back of the persons head only to drop it back to her side a second later. "Ophelia?"

The music stopped suddenly as Batalax swiveled around in the chair, "Hey Nysa! ...What are you doing in Bevelle? I thought you were supposed to be on your way to Becca's?" she put a hand to her chest as her heart raced, Nysa had startled her.

Nysa continued to blink stupidly. "B... why are you in the Farplane... and why are you playing with VEGNAGUN?!"

"We're in the Farplane? What's a Vegnagun?"

Nysa smacked herself in the head and sat down on the bench beside her friend. "This device is a war machine, capable of bringing the world to it's knees---"

"Oh, well then." Before Nysa could comprehend what was happening, Batalax let out a long controlled burst of electricity into Vegnagun, frying all of it's systems irreparably.

"...crap." Nysa replied, her voice filled with dread. "There goes use of all my future knowledge."

"...Umm... oops?" Batalax fingered a piece of her hair as a nervous gesture, "My bad?"

"We're so screwed."

"So... Umm. What do we do now?" Batalax asked with a slight wince.

"I... don't really know. I mean, it wont effect the present much, as Vegnagun didn't actually start it's attacks for another two years, but I'm not really sure what to do now. Nooj is probably still possessed... Huh. I guess I could try and talk to him and draw Shuyin out... but Shinra hasn't even created the songstress Dressphere yet, so we don't have Lenne. Maybe I could get Gippal and Baralai to help... I could even try and track down Paine..."

"Okay, I didn't understand like, any of that. The only name I recognized was Shinra, he's the Al Bhed whiz kid who made the com-spheres, right?"

"Yeah. Oh, and the others... Shuyin is an unsent who hates the world because his girlfriend was killed, he looks similar to Tidus, like, they could be twins... and eerily enough, his dead girlfriend Lenne looks just like Yuna, but with longer hair and different colored eyes. Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai, were a group created awhile back called the Crimson Squad, unfortunately, the Maesters turned on them much like they did with us, and the group was forced to split up and flee. But Nooj is possessed by Shuyin. Paine was the Crimson Squads recorder. Shuyins plan was to destroy Spira using Vegnagun."

"Oh. And if I hadn't accidently destroyed Vegans gun, what would have happened?"

"It's Vegnagun." Nysa corrected, "If you hadn't, in two years, or a year and a half, _whatever_, the three CS members would have split Spira up to the point of an almost Civil war. They each would create a faction of their own, New Yevon, the Youth League, and the Machine Faction. Gippal's Machine Faction was mostly neutral, but Baralai's New Yevon and Nooj's Youth League were constantly at each others throats...and they brought everyone else into their fights. Eventually, The three CS members disappeared, they came to where we are now actually, although it took them a lot longer."

Nysa stood up so she could see the view, it was a long way down, had she really climbed so high so easily? She continued telling Ophelia what the future had held, "Yuna was dragged into the whole issue due to a sphere she had been given, a sphere of who she thought was Tidus, but in fact was Shuyin. She became a Sphere Hunter, a career that will get pretty popular within the next year or so, to find more information on Tidus's whereabouts. In doing so, she learned about Shuyin and Vegnagun and ended up having to save Spira once more, along with Rikku, Paine, the Crimson Squad, and the LeBlanc Syndicate, whom I hope I never have the displeasure of meeting... if only I were so lucky."

"Huh. Well, most of that will probably stay the same, just, Shuyin will have to find a different way to try and destroy Spira."

"...Unless we destroy him first, but I really don't want to do that, he deserves his happy ending as much as anyone else... so we have to wait for Shinra to create the Dresspheres, maybe due to the money I gave him, he'll be able to have them done faster."

"... or he'll make different things." Batalax pointed out, "Any little difference could have long term effects."

Nysa nodded, that was true. "Hey, B... aren't you supposed to be in a meeting right now? Any why are you here anyways?"

Ophelia grinned sheepishly, "Well, you see." She said, "I kinda... got, uhh... really, really lost." she leaned against the piano type controls and started telling Nysa what she had been up to for the last day.

_Batalax woke to the sound of her alarm clock, she groaned loudly and rolled over to get up. She glanced at the clock, it read quarter to midnight. "Wait!" She said to herself, "That can't be right, I set it for ten thirty! I have to be there by twelve... and it's like an hour walk! I'm gonna be Laa~aate!"_

_The mage jumped out of bed, shot a thunder at the alarm clock to punish it, because obviously, it had done this on purpose, and ran to the bathroom to change. Her kimono was wrinkled from sleep, so she would have to make do with something else. She dug through the clothing she had picked up throughout the last year and finally decided on something similar to her black mage outfit. A tight purple, low cut tee shirt with one black sleeve, on each side of the shirt was three horizontal black stripes. A black knee length layered skirt with purple spandex capris under them, red fingerless gloves, and Skye's black rollerblades. _

_She brushed her shoulder length dark curly hair and put it up in a messy pony tale. She then grabbed her two red item pouches and strapped them to easily accessible spots on her body. She grabbed her Tikki and strapped it to her back, she frowned to herself for a moment before she strapped the rest of her weapons to herself as well. She wasn't supposed to bring her weapons to the meeting, but there was no way in Yevon she was going to the temple unarmed, in the dark._

_Forty five minutes later, Batalax rolled into the meeting room, she was out of breath from the speed she had moved in order to make it. She looked into the room and blinked, the only person there was the Priest. "Uhh... Did I miss the meeting?"_

_The priest looked up from the paperwork he was studying, "No, not at all. I believe the others have continued to sleep. The meeting is further adjourned until noon tomorrow."_

"_Oh. Well, that's annoying." Batalax shrugged and made her way back out of the room, at the door she paused and threw over her shoulder, "Summoner Nysa has asked to be excused from the rest of the meetings, she asks that for the next while, all requests for her go to myself or Summoner Yuna."_

"_I see." The priest didn't look too pleased, but he seemed to be understanding. "Tell Summoner Nysa that she is excused, and that her request is granted. Also, tell her that when she has the time, Priest Lanemt would like to speak with her."_

"_Alrighty." Batalax grinned, closed the door as she left the room. She was wide awake now, so she figured she would explore the building a bit. Thus, an hour later, she found herself in a side room pressing random buttons, "Wonder what these do?" she mused._

_The mage quickly bored of playing with the random controls and made her way out of the room and down another hallway. Finally, she found herself in a place she recognized, she found herself standing in front of the lift that would take her to the Cloister of Trials. "Well, we never did find out where the destruction sphere thingy went, maybe I can't find myself some treasure?" Ophelia jumped lightly onto the lift._

_Twenty minutes later, the lift was still going down, and she was bored. Batalax pulled some cards out of her item pouch and quickly set up a game of solitaire. After cheating steadily, she won five games in a row, before once again finding herself bored. Of course, by now it didn't matter, as the lift finally had come to a stop. "This ain't the cloister of trials." She murmured. She jumped off the lift, and was thankful when it stayed where it was instead of rising to the top without her. "Well, guess I've got some exploring to do. I wonder why they would have a place like this under the Temple? I wonder what other sort of dark secrets Yevons history holds." she cackled evilly and pulled her Tikki torch out of it's sheath to swing around._

_She made her way quickly through the maze like area, until she came to a hole in the floor, she peaked through and noticed that the room beyond was nothing like the dark Machina filled chamber she was in currently. The room below instead looked like it was filled with flowers, it also looked like it was quite a ways down. Normally, that would make a person more careful and cautious; Batalax, on the other hand, shrugged and jumped in feet first. Normal was overrated anyways._

"So, then I went through a portal like thing, climbed up here, and started playing on what I thought was a pipe organ." Batalax finished her story. "So, what are you doing here? And how did you get here, aren't you supposed to be at Becca's?"

Nysa shook her head in exasperation, only Batalax would be able to find a place like this by accident, and destroy something so powerful on a whim. "I got here through Remiem, all the temples have a path that leads here. And I'm going to go to Becca's after I get out of here. I wanted to see what was down here, and if it was anything like the game. I also wanted to check Vegnagun out, and see if it looked anything like it did in the game. Oh, and on a side note, I _have_ to tell you about Remiem, or better yet, I'll keep you in suspense until you get some free time to visit."

Batalax scowled and said darkly, "That's mean." she then glared for a few moments before drawing the conversation back to where it should be. "Does it? Look anything like it did in the game, I mean."

"It's.. bigger. And more bug like than I remember. I wonder if we'd be able to use it for parts..."

"_Well_, I'm probably already late for the meeting, so why don't we take this thing apart and store it in one of our item pouches?"

"We'll need to use an items pouch each in order to fit it all, but sure, It's not like I have something better to do." Nysa replied. "Let's split it evenly between the two of us."

"Even? But I'm the one who killed it!"

"You wouldn't have if I wasn't here."

"...True."

Ten hours later, the two teens were sitting on the platform that held Vegnagun eating a _very_ late dinner, or early breakfast. "We got a lot done, I think, another three hours, and we'll have all the parts small enough to store away. I wonder how much anyone would pay us for some of the more advanced parts, I mean you fried them all, but some of the parts may be fixable, or at least, they may be able to see how they had worked and recreate them."

"Mm." Ophelia replied and finished swallowing her food. "Talking about fixing things, I have an idea... do you think if we gave the Al Bhed Akail's iPod and Xander's speakers that they would be able to find out how they work and make their own? I have an idea involving music that I would love to try out, but it'll only be possible if we can get duplicates of those two items."

"It's possible, I guess. But we'd have to make sure they are careful, the iPod is obviously enchanted, I mean, it has all the final fantasy music, and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure Akail never listened to, it's almost as if the iPod would play what ever music fit the mood. Here, try it right now, and see what it plays."

Batalax put down her ration bar and pulled out the iPod. She pressed play and immediately it started playing the Final Fanasy X-2 song Vegnagun Awakens. "Okay... thats just.. sort of creepy."

Nysa nodded but looked at what was left of Vegnagun, "I doubt it'll be waking up any time soon though."

"True... True. Hey Nysa, why do you look so beat up anyways?"

"I was attacked by fiends like, every three steps on my way here. My charm bangle seems to have stopped working for some reason. Maybe it ran out of charm-ness?"

"Really?" Batalax asked, "I didn't even see any fiends, let alone fight them."

Nysa glared half heartedly. "Eh, we should really finish taking this apart and get going, everyone at the meeting is probably worried sick... maybe. In the game, it was never actually said, but I got the feeling that time didn't move the same between this place and the rest of Spira. I could be off base though."

"It would be awesome though, if I hadn't actually missed the meeting."

---

Nysa was right, time did move differently in the Farplane, just, not enough to really help.. Batalax got back into the temple around midnight, meaning she was twelve hours late. If time had moved normal, she would have been over a day late though, so she wasn't too upset about it. She knocked on the door to the meeting room, "Sorry, I got lost in the temple... again."

Rikku snickered from across the table. Batalax just smirked and sat down as if she hadn't just interrupted an important meeting.

"Lady Ophelia, glad of you to join us. We just finished a majority vote. We know that you High Summoners had declined to our offer of having you run Spira, but we had a vote, and it has been decided that Spira would be better of in your hands. You will have some time to come up with how you wish to run things. Also, you will need to choose the new Maesters, who will work under you. Of course, once you have decided what you wish to do, you may change the entire system.

"So, even though we are not to be Maesters, we are still... like, the ultimate law?"

"Yes. As it stands though, whoever is chosen to be the next four Maesters, will report to the three of you."

Batalax nodded slightly, that meant that they were technically still Maesters, just with a different name. They would still have a lot of responsibility. Damn.

---

It was nearly one in the morning when Nysa made her way back up the icy stairs she had made. She was extremely tired, because although it was one in the morning here, it had been nearing noon down there, meaning she had been awake for over twenty four hours. Nysa made it to the top floor and sealed the floor with ice.

She hid a yawn behind the palm of her hand and made her way out of the chamber. She laughed quietly when she saw someone had put a _do not disturb_ sign in front of the door. "Cute Creevey, _real_ cute." she shook her head and walked down the stairs to the kitchen area. Curious to see if anyone was still awake she made her way stealthily down the hallway leading to the kitchen. She looked around the kitchen but couldn't see anyone, although she could hear voices coming from the door on the right, she moved towards it and realized she could recognize some of the voices. She opened the door and stepped into the room, "Yo. What are you guys still doing up this late?"

"Lady Nysa!" Mollayna cried out, she stood from her chair, "You startled me, dear. Did you just finish up in the Chamber?"

"Yeah. It took a bit longer than I was expecting." Nysa admitted. She moved over to the table and sat down. "I was just curious to see if anyone was still awake, I'm probably going to head down to bed soon though."

There weren't many people in the room, just Mollayna, Red, and a couple chefs she hadn't met yet. Nysa took a moment to look around the room, she hadn't entered it earlier, as when she had entered the kitchen things had gotten really busy, really fast. The room was very big, it was painted a dark red, and had copper highlights due to the crystal chandelier styled lights. The only pieces of furniture in the room were a long hundred person table and a lot of chairs. All of which was made out of cherry wood.

"You're hurt." Red said, as if he was talking about the weather.

"Mm..." Nysa replied noncommittally, "It looks worse than it is. The actual wounds are healed, I just, haven't had a chance to get rid of the blood yet, although there's really no point, the shirt's ruined now anyways." Nysa glanced down at her shirt and sighed, it had been one of her favorites, but she had lots like it anyways, so she wouldn't be too sad to see it go. "Sorry I haven't talked more, but I need to head to bed," she couldn't tell them that she had lived through more time than them, as then she would have to explain, and she could barely stay conscious as it was. "Goodnight everybody. I'll talk to you all in the morning."

---

The next day, Nysa stood in front of Creevey, Mollayna, Red, and Steev. They were all standing in the Remiem Gym. "I really can't say when I'll be back, as I honestly do not know. I promised a friend that I would help rebuild her Home city, and that could take months. I'll try and stop in whenever possible though."

"We'll still be here when you get back," Creevey replied with a cheesy grin.

"We can do get done things you asked. Have paper, words about new color, paint for walls. It be done fast." Steev said. "Also. Be storage rooms cleaned, sorted, become guest wing? We work it on."

"We'll look forward to your return, Lady Nysa." Mollayna stated, she smiled and gave Nysa a hug before stepping back into line with the others.

Red just gave her a curt nod.

The petite thief smiled slightly and walked across the mats towards the stairs going down. She refused to glance over her shoulder, as she didn't want to take the chance that anyone would follow her. She had given them a lot to do though, so she doubted they would care what she was up to. Nysa stepped off the last stair and closed the door behind her. She went through the lab carefully, as she hadn't wanted to make a big deal about it while there were others with her. The lab really _was_ Ancient tech. As big of a Stargate Atlantis fan as she had been, she would recognize this stuff anywhere. Nysa sat down at the main terminal and activated it. She tried to find out more, but none of it was in English. "Well, that's useless. And annoying." Nysa stood from the chair she had sat in and made her way out of the Temple. With luck, she would make it to Becca's by noon.

It was nearly midnight by the time Nysa _finally_ made it to her sisters shop. She had run into a family that had gotten separated from their young son, and had spent her entire day looking for the brat. She was pretty sure he was the same boy as Yuna had to look for in Macalania during X-2. Nysa looked the shop in front of her over, it was dark, and, yep, she pulled on the door futilely, it was also locked.

"Well, damn." She pulled her lock picks out and unlocked the door.

She walked up the stairs to her and Batalax's room, stopping only briefly at the save point. Rebecca had given the room to them so they would always have a place to stay when they were in the area. That was before she had been given her own temple. Her last thought before letting sleep take her was that she wondered where her sister was.

The next day she walked down the stairs and was nearly shot. She threw herself behind a table and flipped it over for cover in the same movement. One hand reached into the sheath in her boot for Tara's gun, while the other hand reached into her items pouch for some sleep gas. That is until she remembered where she was. Her hands dropped to her sides as she peaked over the table, "Uhh, Aileod?"

"Lady Nysa?" The Al Bhed asked, his voice was embarrassed.

"Uh... yeah. If I stand up, will you promise not to shoot me?" she lifted her head a little more.

"Yeah." she could hear him put his gun away, "Sorry, I didn't know you were here. I thought I was alone."

"No problem-o. I got in pretty late last night." Nysa stood and righted the table. "Where's my sister, anyways?"

"Uhhh..."

----

So, this is how Nysa found herself, nine days later, entering the city of Guadosalam. The city was nearly completely underground, and all the roads and building were made out of roots. The air had a spicy scent that she had never been able to identify. Nysa wasn't sure where to start looking, the city was huge, and she had no idea why Becca was there. She decided to first find a fountain or something so she could fix her hair... stupid Thunder Plains.

Meanwhile...

"Boss, we done here?"

The Boss nodded once but didn't look away from the object in front of her. The Boss, was a petite woman, around five foot two, a hundred and ten pounds, with short red hair with darker brown roots showing. She was wearing a long black cloak that led one to think of Organization Thirteen. The cloak was not zipped up at the moment so it could be seen that she was wearing black spandex pants and a light purple shirt thats design could actually make a person dizzy if they looked at it long enough. Only one weapon could be seen but no one could be quite sure what it did until it was used, as there was nothing like it on this world. This woman was Rebecca Croft, an interdimentional, coffee shop owner. "Of course. Though, I plan to return at a later date."

It had been just over two weeks since Sin had been defeated, two weeks of celebrations, all of which had annoyed the hell out of her. So what if Sin was gone? How was _that_ going to help her coffee sales? Becca looked at the Stargate once more and then turned her back on it in one swift moment. "Cadmion, let's get back to the shop."

The bodyguard nodded curtly and gestured a couple times with his hands. Six other people appeared from the woodworks and crowed around the redheaded woman, all of them made sure that she was completely surrounded as they made there way down the hill towards the exit of the town.

Rebecca smirked, she loved having minions. With one last retreating look over her shoulder she took in the Stargate once more. "Huh, I wonder why the only address I can remember is Ba'al's fortress... I wonder if he likes coffee? If nothing else, he would make a good spokesperson for my coffee business. So what if he's evil... I'll just have to out evil him. Maybe I can have clones too! Provided that they don't try to kill me like his---"

"Boss! Possible hostile up ahead, permission to open fire?"

Rebecca looked annoyed that the man had dared interrupt her while she was talking to herself. She looked down the road where the possible hostile stood. "Idiot! That's my sister! You know, one of the three High Summoners? You kill her and you'd probably start a war or something! She's also hardly what one would consider to be hostile, well, actually, that depends on her mood, and who it is that she is theoretically being hostile towards."

The man looked embarrassed before he once again fell into line surrounding the redhead. They waited in silence as the High Summoner walked up the road to meet them.

"Hey Becca, this is the first time I've seen you away from the coffee shop since you claimed ownership over it." Nysa exclaimed. Rebecca frowned as she looked her sister over. She looked tired, and her voice was less excited than normal. She seemed to be taking her friends leaving, really badly. Even her outfit showed her mood. She was wearing all black, not a hint of bright yellow or green could be seen. Even her hairstyle was more subdued than normal, it was in a single braid down her back.

"I had business to attend to." Rebecca replied. She then raised an eyebrow as she realized another thing about her sister, "Have you been stealing weapons again?"

"What? Huh? No! No, I just... felt like expanding my options. You never know when you'll need a different weapon than the one you're using, and as of right now, the Dresspheres have yet to be invented, so I'm doing what I can. Besides, I didn't steal any of them, When the rest of the group went back to Earth, some of them decided that it would be a bad idea to have their weapons with them, as on Earth they could get in trouble for carting them around. Thus, B and I went through what they left behind and took what we wanted. We got a lot of weapons out of it, but most of them are stored away, as you can really only have so many weapons on your person before they become more of a hindrance than a help."

It was actually quite noticeable that the thief was carrying around more weapons, as before she had only carried around her brightly colored twin daggers and her throwing knives. Now, along with the weapons she had always had, she also had a gun strapped to her boot, a short dagger strapped to her left leg, and a sword strapped to her back.

"Boss, we need to get out of here." Cadmion said once again.

Rebecca nodded in agreement. The sun was going to be up soon, and it would be best if her and her Al Bhed workers were not seen in the Guado ruled town. Her Al Bhed minions may not be able to restrain themselves from coming mass murder after what the Guado had done to their Home on Bikanel Island. Not that she would blame them. Or actively try and stop them...

"Well, I'll call you some other time then."

Rebecca nodded and with her guards surrounding her, left the town.

Nysa watched them go with a bemused smile, "Well," she said, "That's certainly not something you see every day." She was honestly a little annoyed. She had been traveling for _days_ to see her sister, only to be brushed off.

The thief hopped in place slightly. She wondered what she should do now. Batalax and the Spiran group were still in Bevelle talking politics, something that she sorely lacked the patience for. Hah, and they had thought they would only be another day or two, that was like, nearly a week and a half ago. Nysa was glad she had gotten out while she could.

The past two weeks had been the most hectic, boring, weeks of her life. A day after the final sending, they had given their speech, and then they had been ushered through Bevelle. At first, the people had actually wanted the three Ex-Summoners to become Maesters. As if that would happen. After a lot of talking it over, they had finally convinced Yevons higher ups that they would be much better suited to just help out where they could, but not be in charge. They still had a lot of living to do before they could even think of taking such a huge position of power. Not to mention, Batalax, a Maester? She would probably cast meteor on the Bevelle temple and say that Yevon had now been disbanded. If only she knew that her plans of non responsibility were going to be nonexistant.

"_Nysa?"_

'Speak of the devil.' The thief activated her Com-Sphere, "Hey B, what's the what?"

"_Where are you? We're **finally** finished in Bevelle. Yuna and Company want to head back to Besaid, are you ready to go?"_

Nysa nodded once, "I'm nodding."

The mage's laughter could be heard over the Com-Sphere.

"Oh, and I'm in Guadosalam." she added. "Tell Cid to pick me up where he picked us up for the final battle, kay?"

"_Why are you in... never mind, tell me when we get you. We'll be there in around an hour, and then you'll have to tell me why you're not in the Calm Lands like you're supposed to be."_

"Kay. See you soon!" Nysa replied.

"_Bye."_ and the link went dead.

Nysa glanced up the hill leading to the Stargate, but decided against actually walking up the incline. She missed them enough without torturing herself about it by looking at the thing that had sent them away. "To the Moonflow it is."

After walking for a half hour, Nysa once again cursed the fact that they had had to send the Aeons. Flying was so much faster than walking, and you got attacked a lot less. She figured that while she could use her charm bangles, or the ones that still worked at any rate, it would be better to fight, as a person could never have enough training. If only she knew just what it was that she was training for...

---

"Nysa, wake up. It's time to go." Batalax said.

"I'm up." Nysa opened her eyes. "I heard you coming down the path. What happened to being stealthy B?" she looked her friend over, she wore white shorts, a purple and black striped top and knee high bright purple boots, her organization thirteen cloak was thrown carelessly over the assemble. For weapons, she had George Tikki strapped to her back, and a short sword sheathed at her side. She looked really tired, but Nysa guessed that had something to do with the meetings. She would corner the mage once they had some free time in Besaid and find out what all she had missed.

"Being stealthy takes more time, and I wanna get back to Besaid."

"Aha, I see. That wouldn't have anything to do with the hot redhead waiting there for you would it?" Nysa hopped to her feet in one graceful movement and took off in the direction of the airship before the mage decided to beat her with Mr. Tikki. Even though her strength stats were like, null, she could still hit really hard with that damn torch.

---

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	5. Chapter 4: The end of the Pilgrimage

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Creevey Tolins, Mollayna Sortok, Steev Des'mar, Fai Merryworth, Red Soks, Rinder Kail, Mick Kail, Torzo Kail, Zairen Kail, Gordos Alkin, Carma Sandra, Priest Grevens, Tamern Zeld, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Four.

_**The end of the Pilgrimage**_

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"So, to Besaid?" Cid asked.

"Yes, I think it is time to go home." Yuna said. She smiled sadly, two weeks prior to this, she had thought that Tidus would be going home _with_ her.

Batalax skipped onto the bridge with a huge grin, "C'mon, I got her, let's go!"

Nysa followed the mage with a patient smile, she was happy for her friend. Luzzu had proposed to her right after the big speech in Bevelle. Personally, Nysa had never believed in love at first sight, but obviously she was wrong, because when Batalax and Luzzu were together, there was nothing else it _could_ be. The two of them were almost sickeningly perfect for each other.

Rikku looked up as they came into the room. "Finally." she said. "I didn't think we would ever get away! Politics are _so_ boring!"

Nysa nodded once in agreement before turning to Cid, "Sir, has Rikku told you our plans?"

"I ain't no Sir, girly. But yea, and we are mightily thankful." Cid said over his shoulder as he continued to look at the spherical map.

"What are your plans? Oh! And why were you in Guadosalam anyways, you said you'd tell me when we met up, but then you used your evil diversion-y talents to distract me!"

Nysa coughed and it sounded something along the lines of 'like it was hard.'

"When I got to the Calm Lands, Becca wasn't there, but one of her workers, I believe his name is Aeliod, told me that she had went to Guadosalam. So, instead of calling you guys back to give me a ride, I... walked to Guadosalam."

"You... walked." Rikku repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, and I gotta say it again, just for the record. I _hate_ the Thunder Plains!" Nysa winced.

"You don't hate the Thunder Plains... the Thunder Plains hate you." Batalax said with a smirk. It amused her that all that lovely lightning liked zapping her friend so often.

"So, did I miss anything big the last while in Bevelle? Did they accept my request?" Nysa changed the subject.

Batalax nodded. "They were a little reluctant at first, but they decided that Yuna and I can handle most of the publicity for now."

"Yes!" Nysa pumped her fist in to the air triumphantly. "Oh, and for plans, I promised Rikku awhile back that I would help her and her people rebuild their Home on Bikanel Island. The Guado stormed it just after we got here, and the Al Bhed were forced to destroy it to stop them. But, like most things in life, if it can be built once, it can be built again. Sure it may not be the same as it was the first time, but who knows, maybe it'll be better? The Al Bhed don't have to hide anymore, after all. Also, I actually know a fair bit about rebuilding homes from when I worked part time for Clean Scene, back on Earth."

"You worked for Clean Scene? And yet you didn't go to school?" Batalax asked.

"It was only a part time thing, like really part time. Oh, Clean Scene is a company that cleans up after disasters in our hometown and all the neighboring towns. Basically, if a house gets flooded, burnt down, or something of the sort, we go in, clean it up, save the personal items that we can, and then we rebuild." She replied. The last bit directed at the people not from Earth.

"By the by," Batalax cut in, "Where's Lulu and Wakka?"

"They are on the upper level, I think they are finding it hard to believe that Sin is actually gone for good." Yuna replied softly. The gentle High Summoner could relate, as she too was having problems believing that it was over. They hadn't had a chance to just, let it sink in yet. They had been in meeting after meeting since the defeat.

"It _is_ rather unbelievable..." Nysa said faintly. "So much happened that day. I'm actually finding myself in a bit of a funk now. For the last year that we've been here, everything I've done, I've had a reason for doing. I was guided by my insider information about this world... but now, I'm in a time where I know just as much as the next person, it's kinda scary, actually. It's like I've been relying on a guide book and now, it's suddenly been taken away from me. And wow, I seem to be talking a lot today, don't I?"

Batalax grinned, "Little bit, yeah. But I'm not surprised, you've been traveling for the last eleven days, without company."

"I'm just glad that everyone's talking again." Rikku said, "The first two days after we defeated Sin... I didn't like that. Everyone was too quiet. I mean, I understand why..."

"I know. I didn't like it ether, and I was one of the most quiet." Nysa replied. "You were pretty quiet after everything too, B, well, until Luzzu proposed in front of most of Spira. And have I mentioned yet, how extremely happy I am for the two of you?"

Batalax rolled her eyes and strolled across the ships bridge to the door that they had came through moments before, "You may have mentioned it a couple times." She gestured in the direction of the door she was standing in front of. "I'm gonna go to the lower deck and talk to the blitzball players."

"I'll come too!" Rikku said.

Nysa watched them go, but turned away when she felt someones eyes on her. Yuna was watching her intently as if she was working up the nerve to ask her about something. Nysa sighed, she had been expecting Yuna to corner her, but expecting it and having it happen were very different things. This was going to be a hard conversation. "Let's go to one of the side rooms,"

Yuna nodded once and followed the dark haired thief out of the room. They entered the side room where the Summoner Donna had been earlier that year. Without waiting for Nysa to look around, Yuna spoke determinedly, her voice held a note of accusation, "You knew. All this time, didn't you?"

Nysa sat down on one of the benches pensively. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. Yuna wasn't supposed to start her Quest for Tidus for another two years... if that would even happen now that Vegnagun was gone and in her and B's pockets. Nysa's memories of FFX-2 were vague at most, she had only played it once, and that was a long time ago, and even then, she hadn't gotten the perfect ending. So she decided to tell what she knew, but vaguely, as it may no longer happen. But if it didn't you could be sure that she would track down the Fayth, and make them give him back, maybe she could even get them to give Akail back? "You're right. I did know."

Yuna nodded, she had figured as much. "Will he come back? ...Can I get him back?"

Nysa gestured for the other summoner to sit down across from her. "I can't say much, but I will tell you this; Live for the future you never thought you would have, if all goes according to plan, something will be sent to you within the next two-to-three years. It will show you the way. I'm not saying for sure that Tidus will come back, just that, it is a possibility."

Yuna looked down, before meeting Nysa's eyes once more. "Will I know what to do when this something gets sent to me?"

"If it does get sent to you, then yes. You will know exactly what you want to do."

The door to the side opened and Batalax bounced in. She looked around quickly and decided that she didn't like the tension she could feel in the room. "Did you know that blitzball players have to hold their breath for the game? How is that possible? I watched a show once that said if you held your breath for more than fifteen minutes it could cause irreversible brain damage!"

"During our whole quest, did you meet Wakka and Tidus?" Nysa deadpanned. "But no, seriously, I have no idea. It probably has something to do with the fact that we are no longer on Earth. The same rules don't apply. Hell, when things die here, they turn into pretty colors, on earth, they turn into not so pretty messes."

"What was your planet like?"

Batalax and Nysa looked startled. No one had ever asked them that before. What _was_ their home planet like? It wasn't something they had really thought about. "It's a lot bigger."

"There is way more technology... Oh, and there are a lot more people, like, lots and lots more. Millions-- no, billions.. no trillions more! Our home town was bigger than Luca, although there weren't as many buildings, it was just more spread out."

"Yeah, and by our standards," Nysa continued. "Castlegar was considered to be a tiny town. Like, so tiny, it didn't even have it's own mall, or Starbucks."

"There's also no magic, or fiends. But that doesn't mean it's safer by any means. The people are a lot more corrupted, I wont be surprised if in the next thousand years, the people end up killing each other off to the point of extinction." Batalax's expression darkened.

Nysa was quick to move along. She didn't want to think about the corruption of their home planet ether. It had never really hit her or Batalax just how bad everything there was, not until they had come here. "I've never really traveled Earth, never even left British Columbia, actually, but from what I can tell by looking at Spiras maps and from my memory of Earths maps, Spira is about the size of Canada and the USA, maybe a little bigger if you count all the islands."

Batalax smiled to herself when she saw Yuna's wide eyed expression. She quickly started to explain more about their planet and how everything worked.

---

A voice came over the speakers, it startled Batalax out of her rant about conformists and politics being the same no matter what world she went to.

"We're landin' at Besaid, any who are getting' off, should do so now. I'll be back in a week to pick up those who want to leave."

Rikku poked her head through the door, she wore a huge grin. "Finally, we're here, c'mon guys!" the blond alchemist skipped out of the room.

The four teens made their way to the deck of the ship, all of them talking quietly, or in Rikku's and Batalax's cases, not so quietly.

"I can't wait to see Luzzu!"

"So, have you guys set a date yet?"

"Not yet, We've decided that we're gonna wait for the world to calm down a bit. 'Cause as it is right now, since I'm one of the High Summoners, half of Spira would most likely show up if I had a wedding."

Nysa looked over at Yuna, the two of them were a couple steps behind the two more hyperactive members of their group. "I've never actually seen Besaid village, the only time I've been here was when we were picking B up after Akail..."

Batalax spun around so that she was facing them, a couple random Al Bheds gave her peculiar looks, as if confused as to why she was suddenly walking backwards, but then shrugged and mouthed the words ' it's Batalax' as if it explained everything.. "The village is so tiny and cute! You'll love it."

"..."

Yuna looked down. Whenever their missing friend was mentioned, it instantly made her think of Tidus. "Let's go, before my Uncle Cid takes off with us still on board."

"Yeah..." Rikku turned so that she too was walking backwards. "Pops so would take off before we're off board too."

Lulu and Wakka met them at the cross halls of the ship, it caused Rikku and Batalax to nearly crash into them. "Hey, guys!" Batalax spun around so that she was walking forward once more. The six of them stood on the lift and were carried to the deck of the ship.

They looked over the beach, it was nearing night, so the beach had a warm orange glow caused by the setting sun.

Yuna looked out to the ocean with a wistful expression. "We're home."

---

"So? What do you think?"

"I think it is a lovely place for a home." Yuna replied with a gentile smile. The three High Summoners and Luzzu were standing on the cliff face that Akail had died on.

"I even have the material we'll build it out of!" Batalax said excitedly. She started digging through her items pouch for something, and Nysa gestured for everyone to stand back. The mage didn't seem to notice them all hastily making their away from her as she dumped the item pouch on the ground. Pieces of metal rained down on the hillside, until Batalax had deemed there to be enough material to work with. "So," She said with an evil smile, "Who knows anything about building houses?"

Everyone turned to look at Nysa and Luzzu, who in turn had immediately pointed at each other.

"I know a little bit, but I've never actualy built a house, especially out of metal." Nysa said apologetically.

"I've built my fair share of homes, as everytime the village was destroyed by Sin, I had a hand in rebuilding. And as a Crusader, I used to rebuild houses a lot, all over Spira." Luzzu said after a long moment.

"Okay. Yuna and Luzzu, go and get the Aurochs, I'm sure they will be more than willing to help with the building. Nysa, I know you haven't drawn anything in a long time, but do you think you're still able?"

Luzzu nodded curtly before taking off towards the village with Yuna.

Once they were alone, Batalax's expression changed drastically from happy-go-lucky to serious. "We're going to be separated for probably a couple months or more, at the end of the week. How are we going to do this?"

Nysa looked around quickly to make sure that they were alone, "I'll deal with the Shuyin thing, but we'll both have to keep all senses alert, because I'm sure there has to be a way to get Akail back. I just don't know how yet."

"You sure? He sounds like a pretty formidable bad guy, I'm more than willing to play back up."

"Yeah, I'm sure. He's able to possess people, and not to be down on my abilities or anything, but as a black mage, you can cause a lot more destruction than I can on a bigger scale. If he were to take control of you... it could be disastrous." Nysa moved around the metal piled on the ground so that she was standing on the cliff face. She then sat down with her legs dangling, and gestured for Batalax to do the same.

"Okay, but I still don't like the idea of you going alone."

"I wont be." Nysa replied, "I'm going to see about recruiting Paine, and maybe Gippal. I'd recruit Baralai, but I don't remember when he became possessed."

"Okay." Batalax nodded to herself.

They both stared pensively over the water for a couple minutes, before Nysa broke the silence, "Do you think they made it home alright?"

"Of course they did. If they didn't, Bahamut's gotta know that we'll track him down and make dragon meat sauce out of him." Batalax said this completely seriously, and it startled Nysa enough that she let out a quiet laugh.

"Oh, by the way, we were outvoted. You, Yuna, and I are officially Maesters, well, not Maesters, but something above that. They said we'd get to pick the names and what we do, so I figure we'd leave that up to you."

"I knew it! Nothing is ever easy. I've actually somewhat thought this out, as I was kind of expecting it, but I'll get back to you later on the details. I'm kinda thinking we should split up what we do, but again, I'll tell you my ideas later. I need to give you something, and then, we have to draw some of your plans up, so when the Aurochs, Yuna, and Lu get back, we'll have actually done something."

"Cool, what do you have for me?"

"These." Nysa pulled a large stack of books out of one of her item pouches, "I got these from Rikku. They're Al Bhed Primers. You'll be able to learn the language through them. I don't know why, but I think you, and maybe Luzzu, knowing Al Bhed, could come in handy later."

"Great. Homework." Batalax lamented.

"You don't have a home yet though." Nysa pointed out. She pulled some blank paper out of her pouch and lay it on the ground between them. "So, anyhow, you got plans, tell them to me, and I'll draw them."

---

"I wonder if we'll see them again?" Rikku asked quietly.

"Maybe someday..."

"Yeah... someday." Rikku repeated sadly.

"But," Nysa cut in, "It's not all bad, is it?"

Yuna smiled slightly and looked over towards Batalax who was chasing her fiance around the beach with her infamous Tikki torch, "No," She agreed, "It's not all bad."

"Sides," Nysa pointed out thoughtfully, "They made their choice, we made ours."

It had been a week since they had been dropped off at Besaid, and the group was currently lounging around the beach waiting for the airship to come and pick Rikku and Nysa up. Wakka was throwing a ball back and forth with some of the Aurochs, while Lulu sat with a book in the shade from one of the ruins. Yuna, Nysa, and Rikku were standing knee deep in the water, idly splashing each other as they talked.

"I miss them," Yuna admitted, she glanced at the brunette thief, "And seeing as I only knew them for a short while, I can only imagine how much you and Ophelia must miss them."

"It's true. I miss them too." Nysa agreed, "But I still have Batalax, and you guys, along with some people I still have to introduce you all to. But I wouldn't have given this place up for the world, I mean, I've gotten some wicked cool powers from being here." She pushed Rikku over playfully, causing the younger girl to fall into the deeper water.

"It's only been around three weeks..." Luzzu commented, slightly out of breath.

"It seems like a lifetime." Batalax added, finally joining the conversation.

"For them, it has been. Time moves much faster there, remember?"

"Oh yeah. We never did figure out how much faster, did we?"

"Rikku, Nysa, Desu du ku!"

The two thief's looked towards the dock where the airship was hovering, they hadn't even noticed it had arrived. "Already?" Rikku complained, "But it's so soon!"

Brother gave his sister a blank look, "E du hud ihtancdyht..."

Oh yeah. Rikku had forgotten that her brother didn't understand Common Spiran. "Hajanseht..." she glanced back at the group and then back at her brother, "Fa'mm saad oui yd dra creb. Fa haat du cyo uin kuutpoac."

Brother nodded and left towards the dock.

"Are you leavin already?" Wakka asked. He had stopped the teams training when the ship had come into sight. Now he stood beside Lulu with a blitzball in his hands.

"Yeah, we are. But not forever! We'll visit soon!" Rikku said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Promise?" Batalax demanded.

"We promise." Nysa and Rikku spoke simultaneously.

None of them said goodbye, as anything they said would sound far too final. Instead, the two thieves just gave the group a smile and a jaunty wave before taking off in the direction of the ship.

---

"Off to Bikanel?" Nysa asked her fellow thief once they were aboard the airship.

"I guess so. Pop's will drop us off, and we'll make our way to Home mark 2. The rebuild hasn't actually started yet, so Pops says we get to do the initial choosing of location."

Nysa nodded approvingly, "Sounds like a plan." she then broke off into snickers, "That's if you don't get us terribly lost before then."

Rikku tried to look horribly offended, but failed miserably. "Alright then, you lead!"

"Thought you'd never ask!" Nysa replied happily.

"Hey! You tricked me!"

Nysa beamed, "Maybe."

"Fine, but you only get to lead when we're in the desert, kay?"

"Alrighty." Nysa looked out the window at the passing scenery, "I love flying."

"Me too." Rikku gestured towards her Brother who was making zooming noises as he flew the ship.

Nysa walked over to him, "Lyh oui dyga ic du Bikanel?"

He nodded, "Fa'mm pa drana cuuh."

Rikku smiled slightly and dragged Nysa to the deck of the ship. The blond thief grinned as they got further and further away from Besaid. "Do you think we'll ever see Tidus or Akail again?"

Nysa smiled secretively, "I'm sure they'll turn up eventually."

The blond gave her friend a perplexed look, but let it go, she would find out eventually. Rikku grinned, if Auron were here, he would be so proud at the maturity she was showing.

"I can't believe B is getting married!" Nysa exclaimed suddenly, effectively changing the subject.

"I know! Those two are so cute together!" Rikku smiled wistfully, "I'm gonna get married someday... I hope."

"I'm never getting married." Nysa said distastefully. "I get sick of people way too easily."

Rikku pouted, "Even me?"

"Nah, you're far too entertaining."

Rikku grinned widely, "Awesome." She then looked kind of confused, and her grin turned into a half frown, "Wait, are you insulting me?"

Nysa burst out laughing, "And she finally gets it!"

"So, do you think Skye and Souron'll get married?" Rikku asked in a desperate need of a subject change.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they're already married!" Nysa said with a grin, "They were dating for like a year before we were even brought to Spira."

Rikku sat down and watched the scenery fly by. She was glad her hair was tied back, as the wind was whipping it around. "Do you think we can visit them once the Farplane portal is working again?"

"We so should." Nysa replied, but secretly, she was doubtful, it was the Fayth who had opened the Stargate that last time. "I don't know though, the Farplane was pretty unstable in X-2."

"X-2?" Rikku frowned over the unfamiliar word.

Nysa turned to face her friend with a smile, "I'll tell you later, when you're older."

"I'm sixteen! How much older do I need to be?"

Nysa grinned, "Just before your eighteenth birthday."

"But that's like, two years! I'll have forgotten about it by then!"

"I know!" The dark haired thief closed her eyes, in two years she would be twenty one. "Wow, in two years, I'll be twenty one."

Rikku frowned, "But aren't you seventeen?"

"Nah, I turned eighteen when we were climbing Gagazet, after saving the Ronso, last year, and I turned nineteen around a month ago, about a week and a half before we defeated Sin." Nysa said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Rikku gave her friend a look of mock outrage, "We coulda had a party!"

"Eh. Birthdays have never been a huge thing for me. I usually spend them alone," Nysa shrugged again, "And besides, we were kinda busy with battle preparations for fighting Yu Yevon."

"Oh." Rikku gave the older girl a hug, "We'll throw you a big party for your twentieth, okay?"

Nysa smiled, "Sounds fun... will there be alcohol?"

Rikku burst out laughing, "Don't you mean sleeping potion?"

"Of course!" Nysa's smile faltered as she remembered when she had used the sleeping potion excuse. She stood up and made her way to the nose of the ship, "You had better give him back..."

The wind gave no reply.

---

"So, want to play rock, paper, scissors?"

"rock, paper, scissors?" The blond blinked, "What's that?"

"Only the easiest, best game, ever!"

"Okay, how do we play?"

"Like this," The Earthling explained the rules to the blond.

"Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Akail held his hand in a fist while Tidus held his hand flat.

"So I win?" Tidus began to smile.

Akail thought hard, he hated losing games, "Normally, that would be true... but, rock beats everything!"

"But you said the paper beats rock." Tidus's smile crumbled and he gave the assassin a confused look.

"Rock beats _everything_!"

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	6. Chapter 5: Involvement

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Senzo, Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Creevey Tolins, Mollayna Sortok, Steev Des'mar, Fai Merryworth, Red Soks, Rinder Kail, Mick Kail, Torzo Kail, Zairen Kail, Gordos Alkin, Carma Sandra, Priest Grevens, Tamern Zeld, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Five.

_**Involvement**_

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"It's lovely..."

"You sound unsure..." Batalax trailed of menacingly and her Tikki appeared in her hand as if by magic. Her and Yuna were currently standing in front of Batalax's and Luzzu's now complete home. It was two stories, making it much bigger than most of the homes built in Besaid, and the door was big enough that if Yuna were to stand on Batalax's shoulders, she wouldn't have to duck much to get into the house.

The gentle high summoner gulped inaudibly, "No, I love it. It's just not like anything I've ever seen before. Where did you get that material? It looks like it's made of all different colors. It's very pretty how the sunlight hits it."

How would she explain this? It was quite the story... Batalax decided to go with the truth. "Well, remember that day in Bevelle, when I was around... twelve hours late for the meeting?"

"I remember."

"Well, I really _had_ gotten lost in Bevelle... just, not really, kinda."

Yuna frowned as she tried to puzzle over what the older summoner meant.

"You see, according to Ny, under each Chamber of Fayth, is a portal to the Farplane, or something like it. I found the one in Bevelle by accident, and ended up finding this large metal bug like thing. When I got to the top of it, I realized it looked similar to a piano, which is an instrument from back on Earth, if you didn't know. Anyhow, I played some songs on it, and suddenly Nysa is standing behind me."

"How did Nysa get there?" Yuna asked curiously. She was looking at the mage's house and wondering how it fit into the story.

"Well, she knew about the portals, so she traveled from her Temple. But back to the story, Nysa said that it was actually a weapon capable of destroying all of Spira... so, I, well... I fried it's systems. A lot."

"That's wonderful! Now it can never harm Spira!"

"Maybe, but in doing so, I kind of voided all of Nysa's future knowledge. But I digress, after I destroyed it, Nysa came up with the idea of taking it apart and maybe seeing if some of the base components would be of any use to the Al Bhed, because although the parts were fried, the Al Bhed may be able to re-create some of the parts, to use in other things."

"So your house is made out of that weapon?"

"Vegnagun. Yeah." Batalax looked strangely smug.

"Vegnagun?" Yuna asked.

"That was the name of the weapon. Apparently, Bevelle had made it during some war with Zanarkand."

"Are the two of you going to come inside, any time today?" Luzzu asked. He was standing in the house with his head poking out of one of the open windows.

"Oh yeah! I gotta show Yuna the inside!" Batalax gripped Yuna's hand and dragged her into the house.

Immediately after entering the house, there was a staircase to the right, a wall to the front, and a door to the left. The inside of the house was made with the same metal, but it was painted. The stairs had three steps, a landing, and then a bunch more steps that went straight, instead of to the right, they were painted white.

The wall to the front had a large picture of the entire Earth group a couple days before the final battle, it was taken by Rikku in front of Rebecca's coffee shop. The wall the picture was a rainbow of different colors. Yuna could immediately tell that the colors were for the people in the picture. The group in the picture, from left to right was; Kayden, Akail, Batalax, Tara, Nysa, Xander, Skye, Souron, and Becca. Where Kayden was, the wall in a stripe from ceiling to floor was orange, where Akail was, it was a dark red, where Batalax was, it was purple, where Tara was, it was teal, where Nysa was, it was green, where Xander was, it was yellow, where Skye was, it was a sky blue, where Souron was, it was black, and where Becca was, it was black with different colored polka dots.

The wall to the left was white, and the door was black. Batalax went over to the door and opened it with a flourish, after first taking her shoes off and hanging up her cloak in a closet Yuna hadn't even noticed that was under the stairs. After putting her own shoes and jacket there, she followed Batalax into the next room. The jackets weren't technically needed, as even though it was winter, Besaid was a tropical island and rarely got cold weather, but the breeze in the evenings the time of year sometimes got chilly.

"This is the living room." Batalax said.

The living room was more common to what Yuna was used to, just a bit bigger. The walls were a pale blue, and the furniture was the same color as the outside of the house, as Batalax had opted not to paint them, and instead had bought some multi-colored cushions from the village to place on them all. There were two couches, a metal fireplace, and a bunch of machina on shelves that Yuna wasn't sure the use of. There were also a bunch of empty shelves, but Yuna wasn't sure what the mage or Luzzu planned to put on them.

To the right of the room, was another door that led to a hallway. Yuna followed Batalax who was talking a mile a minute, "This is the bathroom, and that's the kitchen, and that's the dining room." Batalax pointed out.

The bathroom looked like most bathrooms, and was probably the only room in the house not made of metal, as the mage had been afraid that it would rust. It was painted purple, but the toilet, sink and tub were black. Batalax looked down the hallway to where the living room was, and wondered idly where Luzzu had gotten to, before continuing. The hallway ended just after the bathroom door, and came out into the dining room, which held only a large metal table and some chairs, and an open door that looked as if it led to a sun deck overlooking the water. The kitchen to the left of the dining room was made of nearly all machina.

"And that concludes the downstairs. Come on, lets go upstairs now." Batalax led Yuna out of the kitchen, down the hallway, through the living room, and back to the entrance chamber, just as Luzzu was entering the house from the outside.

"Hello, Lade Yuna." Luzzu said respectfully.

"Hello, Luzzu." Yuna replied, "You have a beautiful home."

"Thank you." Luzzu replied. He looked over at his fiance, who was beaming happily. "We've worked hard on it these past couple months. Honestly, the thing that has surprised me the most, is that Batalax hasn't shown you sooner."

"I've been kinda busy in Bevelle." Batalax explained. She gripped the ex-crusaders hand, "Come on, I'm showing her the upstairs now."

The upstairs held two guest bedrooms, a master bathroom, an office space, and a master bedroom. The two guest rooms were against the far wall, giving them great views of the water and mountain beyond. The master bedroom was opposite the guest rooms, and the size of both of them put together. In the master bedroom, there was an office built in, and the furniture was made out of wood instead of the metal of the rest of the house. The walls were painted a royal blue, with purple accents. They showed Yuna the master bathroom, and the deck they had built overlooking the water, before finishing the tour.

"Would you like to stay for dinner, Lady Yuna?"

They were now sitting comfortably in the living room sipping their tea that Luzzu had made them.

"I would love to, but Lulu and Wakka are expecting me back. And I have a meeting with Senzo tomorrow morning."

"The warrior monk?" Batalax asked curiously.

"Yeah, that's the one." Yuna replied, and if Batalax didn't know better, she would say that Yuna said it distastefully.

"I'm still thankful that they are at least giving us a little time to settle down before giving us complete control." Batalax said.

"I am thankful as well." Yuna replied. "When did Nysa say we would finalize the plans?"

"Last time I talked to her, she said late January, to early February." Batalax replied, "I think we have plans for next week though. Is Christmas celebrated here?"

"Christmas?" Yuna repeated questionably.

"Oh, my, god." Batalax's jaw dropped. "I have to educate the people!"

---

"We wish you a Merry Christmas... We wish you a Merry Christmas... and a Happy New Year!" Nysa sung as she skipped across the bridge leading to Remiem temple. It was December twenty third, and she was taking two weeks off from working on Home, to go to her own home. Rikku would be coming the next day.

The thief entered the temple on silent feet and immediately noticed a big difference. Everything looked much newer than the last time she had been here, three and a half months ago. Looks as if everyone's been doing their jobs... she thought to herself.

"Lady Nysa!" a voice startled her out of her quiet musings. She turned on her heal to face the room she had slept in the first day coming to Remiem after it was put into her possession. Creevey was standing in the doorway with a cheerful gin on his _very_ old face.

"Hello, Creevey. It is wonderful to see you." She walked the distance separating them, so that she would not have to raise her voice, "I'm sorry for not visiting sooner, I have been uber busy with rebuilding. How have the repairs gone?"

"Wonderful." The old man replied, "We actually finished just last month with the majority of it."

"Awesome. Did Steev get my plans for the gym?"

"He did. But it'll take another month or two before it is done. Some of the things you asked for, they are having trouble finding."

"That's great, I honestly figured some of the things would give the Kails some trouble." Nysa and Creevey continued talking as they made their way down the stairs and through the hallway to the kitchen. "did the kids make it here alright?"

"They did. It was a bit of a problem understanding them in the beginning, as their Spiran isn't that great, but Tonala is wonderful with children. And don't get me started on Mollayna, that woman is a mother hen incarnated."

"Tonala?" Nysa asked.

"Tonala Kelp. She's one of the chefs working under Molly."

"Oh. Nice."

When they had first started rebuilding Home, most of the children had just been getting in the way, so Nysa had proposed sending them as refugees to her Temple for safe keeping. There had been around twenty five children scattered around Spira from the downfall of Home, and they had all been brought to her Temple. "So, the storage rooms, what was done with the stuff in them?"

"Boxed, just liked you asked for. All papers and books were sent to Gordos, Any machina was put in the main living quarters, again, just like you asked, and the rest is stored away in the gym, as no one was using it."

Nysa looked stunned, she hadn't honestly expected them to do things so... perfectly, to her words. "Thank you, Creevey. You have all saved me a lot of work. Wow,"

"She's back!" Creevey called out as they entered the kitchen.

"Lady Nysa!" Mollayna cried out. She hurriedly dried her hands on her apron and rushed over, "It is wonderful to see you! What are you doing home so soon? In your last message, you said you wouldn't be back till February at the earliest. Not that we're not thrilled to have you back," she was quick to reassure.

"Small change of plans," Nysa replied, "I got a message from a close friend of mine, and we decided to host an event. But only if you are willing."

"Willing to do what, my dear?"

"On the twenty fifth, in two days, I would like to host a dinner and a ball."

Mollayna's eyes went wide, then she grabbed Nysa by the arm and dragged her into the dining room. "Tell me everything you need, I'll make sure it gets done. I'm not sure if two days will work though, as it's not nearly enough time for Zairen and her brothers to go to Bevelle and back for supplies."

"Rikku, a close friend of mine, will be bringing supplies tomorrow. We actually got most of it already, I just wanted to ask you if it would be alright with you, before we went through with our plans. I'm also so sorry about the short notice. Ophelia, one of the other High Summoners, and I were planning on just having a small celebration between her, myself, and her future husband, but then she found out that no one had heard of the holiday we were celebrating, so we decided to introduce Spira to it."

"Alright." Molly nodded once to herself, and then looked up to address the crowd that had formed when they had realized Nysa was back. "You heard the girl. We're going to have a really busy next two days. Drop everything you've been doing, and find out what needs to be done."

"Actually..." Nysa pulled out a pile of papers, "Ophelia planned most of it, and she was kind enough to write everything down. Of course, she doesn't know about you guys yet, as I wanted to surprise her, and she only planned for the main entrance, so that's where it will be held. It looks like a ball room anyways, though, so it will work great."

Nysa handed out the papers to those that would need them, "Thank you everyone. Now, I have a lot of work that needs to be done before Friday, where are the kids hanging out?"

"In the Gym." A short black haired woman spoke. "They enjoy having the room to run around."

"Thank you. All of you. There will be a lot of people here on Friday, I'm sorry for throwing this all on you."

"We mind not even bits. People at Temple are good." Steev said strongly.

Nysa gave them all a smile and left the room.

For the first two months after Sin, she had worked with Rikku, but then Rikku was called away as a spokesperson for the Al Bhed. Nysa had jumped at the chance, and had sought out Gippal. The two of them had hit it off pretty easily, once he got over the fact that she was a celebrity. That put the first part of her plan into motion, so now she just had to seek out Paine. She wasn't sure how to draw Shuyin out of Nooj yet, but she was sure she'd be able to figure it out when the time came, which hopefully wouldn't be for awhile yet.

Batalax and Yuna had been working on the priests, and that plan was almost set into motion, but she personally wouldn't be able to commit to anything completely until she had finished helping the Al Bhed. They didn't really need her help any more, but a promise was a promise. Soon, she hoped everything would start to come together. The most pressing matter was Shuyin, and then Running Spira.

In the game, Spira hadn't been half as complicated as it was in real life. Even the map of it was wrong, or at least incredibly out of proportion. Batalax had spent a lot of time in the library's of Bevelle during the last two months, while Luzzu and the Aurochs built their home, and she had in turn dumbed down everything she had learned, and told it to Nysa in a way she'd understand. So, unlike FFX, in reality, Spira was split up into two countries, Zanarkand, and Yu.

Yu, was the country that they had explored, consisting of everything up to Gagazet. Zanarkand, was everything after Gagazet, which consisted of much more than the capital city named after the country. Zanarkand was almost as big as Yu, but years ago, during the war, it had been entirely wiped out. Leaving only ruins. Then Sin came, and everyone blamed Zanarkand, so there was a law that stated no one besides Summoners and their Guardians were allowed to travel that cursed ground.

In making that law, it made it so that preforming the final summoning was even harder, because for such a large distance, there was no place to restock on materials, and fiends ran abundant, far stronger, and in larger crowds, than the rest of Spira, as for over a thousand years, there had never been anyone to cut their numbers down, so they evolved into stronger and bigger monsters. The wall of the Fayth, had been the last survivors of the entire country, and they had not wanted to live in a world without their beloved home, to they sacrificed themselves for their dream Zanarkand, a mere shadow of what it had once been. Or at least, that's how the history books described it.

"Lady Nysa!" A voice shook her from her thoughts, and Nysa realized with a start that she had been standing on the stairs just outside the entrance of the Gym for the last ten minutes.

She smiled, "Hello Shinra. I've been looking for you."

---

"Thank you, Cid." Batalax said gratefully.

"No problem, kid."

Batalax moved down the ramp that had been placed for the ships occupants to get down to the ground. Immediately, she noticed a huge difference from the last time she had been to Remiem temple, for one, the bridge had been rebuilt, and you no longer needed a chocobo in order to get there. The bridge was also bigger, as if made for a carriage to get across. Batalax wanted to know when Nysa had had the time to get this done, when according to Cid, she had been at Home, since leaving Besaid.

Batalax moved gracefully across the bridge, and was startled to see that she was far from the first person to arrive. She could see many people moving into the building, one after another, as carriage after carriage came and went, dropping off the people of Spira who had been invited. Suddenly a hush went over the crown of people still waiting to be let into the temple, they were all looking her direction. Batalax smiled pleasantly, and pulled Yuna's hand so that she was walking beside her. Cid had picked up all the people from Besaid and Kilika who had been invited.

The invitations had been mostly word of mouth, as it had been so last minute, but it looked as if half of Spira had shown up. Batalax swallowed nervously and made her way past the crowds, as apparently, being a High Summoner, meant she and Yuna wouldn't need to stand in line. Luzzu, Wakka, and Lulu were also let through immediately.

As Batalax stepped into the room, her eyes widened, and she couldn't help but gasp out loud. The ballroom looked as if it had been done according to the Yule ball from the Harry Potter books, and Batalax supposed that that is what Nysa had been going for. The thief even had control over ice, so it had probably been easy. It was beautiful.

The ball room was even more crowded than the outside, with people mingling. As they made their way past the entrance, and elderly looking man stopped them. "Hello, and welcome to Remiem Temple. Please sign your names here, so later we can look at this book in remembrance."

Batalax smiled and quickly wrote her name, while Yuna and the others did the same. The old mans eyes widened upon reading her name, "Ophelia Batalax? I am Creevey Tolins. Please head to the back of the hall towards the Chamber of Fayth, take a right turn down the hallway. There'll be a man there, introduce yourself to him, and he will tell you where to go next."

Batalax shrugged lightly, "I'll meet up with you guys later?"

Luzzu gave her a light kiss, "Of course."

The mage gave the group a beautiful smile and after gently lifting her flowing purple ball gown, made her way in the direction Creevey had pointed her in. As she went, a lot of people greeted her, and she greeted them back politely. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, she found the hallway and made her way down it. At the end of it stood a tall buff looking man wearing a suit. "Halt. You. Name?"

Batalax stopped walking and sized him up. He was much bigger than her, and probably a lot stronger... but she could take him. "Ophelia Batalax, I was told to head this way by an elderly man named Creevey."

"Ah. Right way is this." The man pointed down the stairs, "Lady waits."

Batalax blinked and then shrugged and made her way past the huge man. She was barely down the stairs when a blur of yellow rushed her and knocked her off her feet. Batalax cast a mild float spell as she tumbled to the ground with what she was quite sure was Rikku on top of her. "B!!!"

"Hi Rikku." Batalax greeted the younger girl calmly.

"Rikku, you're going to wrinkle your dress." Nysa commented idly from behind her fellow thief. She helped them both up, and Batalax took this time to study her two friends. Nysa was wearing a flowing green dress with a black hooded robe, while Rikku was wearing a bright yellow dress that reminded Batalax of Belle from the Beauty and the Beast. Rikku's hair was in a fancy up-do that Batalax recognized as the same hairstyle Tara had worn her hair in for Grad Banquet, a couple months before they were brought to Spira, meaning Nysa had done the blonds hair. Nysa's hair was in it's regular pony tale with tons of braids down her back, but there was something silvery strung throughout the braids.

"I like your dress, B." Nysa said quietly.

Batalax looked down at her own dress, it was a shimmery purple dress with a black and purple corsette. She too had a black hooded cloak around her shoulders. "Thanks."

Both High Summoners nodded at Rikku as she passed them up the stairs, "Okay B, we'll join the party in a bit, but first... we really need to talk."

"Yeah. We do." Batalax replied seriously.

Batalax's eyes were wide as Nysa led her through the temple to her main living quarters. She had been sleeping in the guest bedrooms, the male room with the green scheme to be precise, and that's where she led Batalax. "I need to ask you, just for the sake of proving to myself that I'm not going completely insane..."

"Has Shiva been talking to you?" Batalax cut in.

Nysa nodded mutely.

"Ixion's been contacting me as well, when I sleep. Guiding me in the use of the power he granted me."

"We never questioned it before, but why do we still have the power? Shouldn't it have gone when we sent them?"

"I think so, but I honestly do not really know ether." Batalax looked pensive, and when she spoke, it was haltingly, as if she was just voicing her thoughts, but was unsure if they made any sense. "What if... what if they didn't go to the Farplane? What if they went somewhere else? From what I've gotten from the dreams, the reason we have their power, is because we were going to get it any way, they just quickened the process. I got the feeling that we are like... their reincarnations or something."

"Me too." Nysa said softly, "But it doesn't make any sense at all! How can we be the reincarnation of beings that on our world are hailed as gods?"

"I don't know. But I don't think we're the reincarnations of the people that became Aeons, if anything, I think we're the reincarnations of the Aeons themselves."

"We should finish this talk later and join the party. Merry Christmas Ophelia, by the way."

"Merry Christmas to you too, Ny."

---

"They are so close to the truth, but so far as well. I wish we could do more to hasten this, I really do."

"We can, we just aren't. The Creators forbid us, you know that as well as I, Sanayin."

"It sounds strange to hear that name again, after so long." Sanayin replied softly.

"How do you think I feel? My real name isn't even pronounceable." Crynajklarinoft replied distastefully.

"That's why we call you Larry." Ni replied.

"So none of them know yet?" Navil asked.

"Not at all." Mals said, he sounded relieved, but also slightly sad. He missed them.

"We're continuing with the plans then?" Versi asked.

"Yes." Mals replied, "Yes we are." he looked over the small group of people, "Ni, Sen, Keer," he addressed the three sisters, the only ones besides himself who volunteered for this, "How fares our _guests_?"

"They are confused, and I believe they are starting to get antsy." Keer replied.

"So we may have to start sooner than we wished to, then." Mals said thoughtfully.

"We'll be destroyed for this, you know, mixing the two like this, it is against everything they set up all those years ago." Storn said regretfully.

"We have no other choice," Sanayin replied with a sigh, "what we learned while under their unknowing influence, it just shows how little time we have. They need to be prepared, and it has to happen soon."

"But what of Valefor?" Versi demanded.

"That was a necessary sacrifice." Mals said unrepentant.

"But what of the other? _They_ are not needed!" Navil said.

"And the ones that you tricked? What was the point of that? We need them here! Not there!" Sanayin said coldly.

"All in due time..." Mals said quietly, "all in due time."

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	7. Chapter 6: Shifting Power

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Creevey Tolins, Mollayna Sortok, Steev Des'mar, Fai Merryworth, Red Soks, Rinder Kail, Mick Kail, Torzo Kail, Zairen Kail, Gordos Alkin, Carma Sandra, Priest Grevens, Tamern Zeld, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Six.

_**Shifting Power**_

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"Lady Ophelia, Lady Nysa, Lady Yuna." The head Priest nodded to each girl respectfully and sat down. After a minimal pause, they sat as well.

"You called for this meeting two months ago, and now it is in session, may we know what it is that you three have decided?"

"Indeed." Batalax replied. Her Nysa and Yuna had talked late into the night the night before while they sat in their hotel room. Nysa had briefed both her and Yuna on the plan, and they had both agreed whole heartedly. Batalax had been voted as the one to do most of the talking, as she had spent the last couple months going back and forth between the Bevelle Library and the Remiem Library, learning everything there was to know about Spira, it's laws, it's policies, and the way of governing.

"I will be blunt, Priest Halmers. Spira is going to go through a lot of changes within the next couple years, and with our guidence, these changes will be swift, and may throw a lot of people off balance. Nysaria and I have seen things far beyond what your imagination would ever be able to come up with, and what we have seen shows just how far this world has fallen behind."

"As has been proven, Machina is not a Sin. It is not the makings of heathens or non believers, it is a tool. Tools are meant to make our lives easier, they are not evil. Evil is in the hands of the user, not the tool. Now, I'm sure a lot of people will be wary at first, yourself included, but this world is going to be going through a massive industrialization. The old cities, the cities that are now nothing but ruins, scattered among this country, the cities of this worlds birth. They are our guide."

"We're not going to turn Spira into something that is not, we're going to turn it into the kind of place it would have had the chance to become, had Sin not appeared."

"As you voted, the three of us are to be in charge of Spira. We have thought a lot about this, and have decided that the job of running Spira is very large. We have decided to split up into three groups. The Leaders of Spira, from this day forward will be known as Kage."

"I, will be the Majokage. My main job will to see to it that Spira runs smoothly. I have went through Spira's laws extensively, and have rewritten a good portion of them, as many have become obsolete with the fall of Sin. Many others, while not bad, will be refitted to the times. Yevon, as a religion, is not bad, but it is highly corrupted, I will do my best to correct this."

"Another thing I will strive to do, is teach our people more about the place that is their home. Zanarkand, for instance; Many believe it to be nothing more than a city in ruins, when in fact, it is a country nearly as large as Yu. If this means that I will need to install schooling systems, I will do so gladly."

Batalax went silent for the head priest and the rest of the council to digest what she had said. "Yuna, you have the floor."

"I will be the Chiryooshakage." Yuna spoke up determinedly. "I will be in charge of industrializing Spira. For years, everything that has been built, has been built with the knowledge that if too big, Sin would destroy it. We no longer have that problem. We can build cities for our people, Machina cities, full of lights, and nothing bad will come from it. Our people no longer have to live their lives in fear, they no longer need to hide. I will most likely be working very closely with the Al Bhed on some of these projects, should they be willing."

"Half of Spira is unpopulated, because our people were afraid to spread out; this, in the following years, I plan to change. Priest Halmers, I plan to help rebuild Spira, make a new Spira. The youth of this world have a chance that no one in our recent history going back a thousand years has had. They get to live in a world without Sin. Our villages are small, overpopulated, and in great need of repair, I will help fix that."

"And I will be the Koorikage." Nysa said, after the High Priest had had a bit of time in silence to go over what Yuna had said, her voice was bored, but her eyes were serious. "I will be in charge of the safety of Spira and it's people. If something comes up that is threatening the people, I will eliminate it. I will personally see to it that Spirans warriors are in top shape, and trained to be the best that they can be. I also plan to set up patrols on the main used roads, to take care of any fiends. Spira should not be a place where people are afraid to leave their homes due to fear of being mauled."

"Also, when I have ascertained that my troops are strong enough, I will send patrols through Zanarkand. From what I have discovered in my travels, and through reading up on our history, Zanarkand is wildly unknown."

"I will also be working closely with the Al Bhed, as once my troops are Zanarkand ready, we will be scavenging the ancient cities, to see what machina we can dig up, and what of it may still be of use. There is so much about this world and it's past that we, nor anyone, knows, as records were incredibly hard to keep with Sin constantly destroying everything."

The discussion went on for hours before Batalax dismissed the Head Priest and his men. The group had seemed highly wary of their plans in the beginning, almost to the point where they looked as if they regretted their decision of making them the leaders of Spira. That had changed, the longer they had listened to the plan. Now, while still wary of the use of so much Machina, the men couldn't help but agree that it may be for the best.

Nysa, Ophelia, and Yuna were now sitting alone in the meeting room; Yuna had her head resting on her hand gently, and was obviously trying to fight off sleep, Batalax had stacks upon stacks of paper in front of her that she was going through at an alarming rate, while Nysa sat with her back to the wall, facing the door, and was sharpening her daggers. "Think they bought it?"

"Yeah. I think they did." Batalax looked up from her papers and noticed Yuna also suddenly looked more alert now that they were sure no one was around. "Now, do you mind telling us, just what your plan is? I know it has to be more than just a simple reforming of Spira. You never do things in halves Nysa."

"Hey! I do things in halves all the time! I'm like, slacker extraordinare!" Nysa looked up from her blades with an indignant look, "Unfortunately though, you are correct."

"Details would be nice."

Nysa stood up gracefully and moved closer to the table, she then silently lay both daggers down and vaulted herself over the table so that she was on the other side. She sat down and looked at the two girls opposite her. "Everything that I am doing, is nothing but building blocks. Eventually, there are three men that will be taking over as Maesters, three men that will work directly under us, and then, in a way, replace us."

"For you, Batalax, it will be Baralai Contrai, the man who would have originally been the leader of New Yevon, which was basically, the same thing you're going for, a Yevon that makes sense, and is good for the people. Baralai was a member of the Crimson Squad, during the war with Sin. One of the Maesters had the entire squad killed, save for him, his two friends, and their recorder. Unfortunately, they didn't survive through skill, so much as luck. Baralai, along with the others, went into hiding, away from each other, but trust me when I say, he is the right man for the job."

"Yuna." Yuna sat up straighter and made an affirmative noise, to show that she was paying attention. "The man that will work under you, is named Nooj Bathezan. He was also a member of the Crimson Squad, and a friend of Baralai, but as he stays in hiding, he will most likely pretend he has never met Baralai or the others before. Nooj, had my friends and I never interfered with Sin, or anything Spira related, would have come out of hiding to create the Youth League, a league that was hell bent on rebuilding Spira, and making it a better place. There is more about him that you will have to be briefed on, but not in the current location." Nysa gave the room a suspicious look, as if she thought someone may be listening in.

"The man that will be working under me is Gippal Langar."

"The guy you mentioned a couple months ago? The one that was your partner in rebuilding Home, after Rikku was called away?"

"Yeah, B. That's the one." Nysa smiled slightly, "He was also a member of the Crimson Squad, but was easily the more relaxed of the three survivors. Again, had we not interfered, he would have come out of hiding and started the Machine Faction, a faction that was all about introducing machina to the country."

"Originally," Nysa said with hints of a bitter undertone, "The three factions almost tore Spira apart, and started another war, because none of them were willing to see the others point. They wanted it all their way, or no way at all. Things got way out of hand, and eventually, Yuna was called in to choose sides, because in the original time line," Nysa turned to look at Yuna, "you had not had as much power as you do now. I think the reason that we have more power, is because there is a group of us, so they thought we would be better equipped to handle it."

"With our influence, we will stop the three groups from tearing each other apart, as we are all working together for a complete picture, not bits and pieces."

"But anyway, back to what I was saying, the three of them, with our help, will eventually run Spira. For the most part, in the beginning, we will do all the main planning, of which there is... well, a lot. But once we have everything running smooth again, they will be able to take over, and we will only need to be called upon if something big comes up, which will leave us open for other things."

The other things that they would be doing, did not need to be specified, because as soon as the words had left her mouth, Yuna's eyes had closed and her jaw set into a stubborn line, while Batalax looked almost reverent with determination. They all knew what their mission would be, they just didn't know when it would begin or how it would progress.

---

"I guess we will most likely be pretty busy for the next while..." Batalax said thoughtfully as they made their way through the Bevelle Temple hallways. She knew her way around, finally, thanks to all the time she had spent there the last five months, "You two had better not miss my wedding next month though, cause Kage or not, you two miss that, and I'll beat you to death with Mr Tikki." Said torch appeared in her hand as she said that, and Nysa couldn't help but wonder how Batalax always did that. From what she could tell, The torch hadn't even been _with_ Batalax.

"Lady Nysa," A voice called out from behind them. The three girls stopped and turned to see who was hailing them. Yuna didn't recognize the man, but Ophelia and Nysa did. He looked more tired then when Nysa had last seen him.

"Priest Lament!" Nysa bowed her head in respect. This man had saved her life, and she was not about to forget that. "You wanted me for something?"

"Oh yeah! Priest Lament wanted you to contact him! ...months ago. Sorry, It completely slipped my mind with the whole metal monster, and flowery under temple places." Batalax looked highly guilty, "I'm sorry Priest Lament." she bowed stiffly.

"It is all right, my dear." The elderly man replied.

Yuna took this time to study the Priest she had heard so much about. This was the man who had trained High Guardian Tara. He was tall, and looked to be pretty well muscled. If Yuna didn't know better, she would say that he was a warrior monk, instead of a white mage. He, like the rest of the priests of Yevon, was completely bald. His eyes were a dark amber, and they looked kind. He was wearing a normal white mage tunic with beige leggings. His hand rested on his hip, as if ready to grab a sword, making Yuna think that maybe, he wasn't always a healer.

Nysa stepped forward, "How have you been, Priest Lament?"

"I have been busy my dear, or is it Koorikage now?"

The thief smiled, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how fast word has spread..."

"The news should be as far as Luca by now, maybe further." Lament replied, "The Daughter of Al Bhed leader Cid, was here a couple months ago. She installed some Machina that has made long distance contacting much easier. Now, we can talk to any village leader with the push of a button." he tapped a com sphere attacked to his ear, and smiled in a way that made his eyes crinkle. "But to what reason I called to you, Lady Nysa, this has been in my possession for far too long." He handed her a small sphere, "Tara wished for you to have this."

Nysa took the sphere in her hand and looked into it for a long moment before sticking it in her item pouch. "Thank you Priest Lament, I will watch it later."

"That is all I ask. I don't believe it to be that urgent, it's just some things she wanted you to know. Some things, I guess, she believed would help you."

A young priestess chose this time to come down the hallway. Her eyes went wide when she saw the three high summoners standing there, and she looked as if she was about to faint. "Ka--- Kage!" she said loudly, before hastily preformed a sweeping bow, "Is there anything, anything at all, I can do for the three of you?"

The three girls shared a look before simultaneously shaking their heads. "Nothing at the moment, except... hm." Batalax trailed off for a moment, "Tell High Priest Halmers that we are leaving the temple, and that he can contact us through our Com Spheres, should something come up that needs our attention."

"Yes, Milady." The priestess preformed another shaky bow before taking off down the hallways at a fast walk that could almost be considered a run.

"Thank you again, Priest Lament." Nysa said, "We will be taking our leave now. If you need anything, contact me, alright?"

Priest Lament smiled broadly, "Of course."

---

"So where to now?" Cid asked. He was standing in front of the Spiran map, aboard his ship.

"Luca." Batalax replied.

They had decided that Luca would be the place to start their jobs, as it had so many people. Batalax was actually just going to Luca, as that was where Luzzu was. She, unlike the other two, could do her work wherever she wanted, as most of her work right now was paperwork. She wasn't going to seek out Baralai, until she had figured out just what she was going to change, and what she was going to leave the same.

Yuna was going to Luca to search for Nooj, while Nysa was going to the Highroad to meet up with Gippal.

"You heard her." Cid called out to his son.

Brother made a dissatisfied noise before he took control of the ships flight once more.

"Cid, we talked earlier about the plans that are being formed, I'll let you know when the teams will be ready, but until then, have them go through Yuna, as she will need all the support she can get."

"Aw'right."

Yuna smiled serenely and made her way out of the control room, most likely once again heading to the deck of the ship. After a moment, Batalax followed her.

"Yuna, wait!" Batalax jogged lightly to catch up with Yuna so that they could take the lift up to the deck of the ship together. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"Nysa and I." Batalax replied, "I hadn't really thought of it, but we've kinda forced this on you, and the people of Spira. We're not even from here, and yet, we're damn near in control. It doesn't seem right to me, and I'm sorry."

Yuna laughed, and it sounded as if it startled her as much as it did Batalax. "Ophelia... I'll admit, things have moved rather fast. But even I can see that what you guys are doing is good. We're making Spira into the place it should have been, had we not been cursed with Sin. How can that not be right?" Yuna stepped off the lift and smiled as the strong wind blew her kimono and hair around. She walked out a ways and turned to face Batalax. "You have to remember, you may not be from Spira, but it doesn't change what you and Nysa, and the rest of your guardians, have done for this world. Without you guys... I don't believe we would have even made it to Yunalesca, let alone beat her."

"You would have." Batalax protested weakly, "Nysa said you would have. Things just would have been different."

"Exactly." Yuna said gently, "Nysa said that a war almost broke out in the future. You two being here, has changed that. I would have never been strong enough to help Spira become all it could be, not on my own." The gentle high summoner looked thoughtful, "I don't think you or Nysa see yourselves as the rest of us do."

Batalax said nothing. Instead she moved past Yuna so she was standing on the nose of the ship, "We're not heroes, Yuna. We're just, a group of teens that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The entire pilgrimage, half of the group didn't even _care_ if Sin destroyed everything, their only goal was to go home. Fuck, until we got to Zanarkand city, none of us had even _seen_ Sin, at least, not in person. The only reason our group fought Sin, was because the Fayth said they would send us home if we did."

"When we met you for the first time, in the Bevelle Chamber of Fayth, we had only been in Spira for a little under two weeks."

"No." Yuna cut in severely. "You've just proven to me further, that the two of you are right for this job."

"How?" Batalax asked tiredly.

"You said that your group fought Sin because the Fayth would only send you home if you did. Right?"

"Right." Batalax nodded.

"You and Nysa didn't want to go home. You fought so that your friends could go home, and because as you had claimed this as your home, you wanted it to be safe. As soon as you decided that you were staying here, the people became _your_ people. I truly believe you would fight to protect any of them."

Yuna sat down gracefully and looked up at Batalax, "You're scared. I am too. What the three of us are doing is huge. It's an almost impossible task. But we're going to succeed."

"You're right." Nysa said from behind them.

Both girls startled, as they hadn't heard her coming.

"We've already done the impossible when we destroyed Sin. This will be nothing."

"Right." Yuna said.

"Okay." Batalax said as she helped Yuna to her feet. If she was unsure about the plan anymore, it didn't show.

They were ready.


	8. Chapter 7: Mission

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Creevey Tolins, Mollayna Sortok, Steev Des'mar, Fai Merryworth, Red Soks, Rinder Kail, Mick Kail, Torzo Kail, Zairen Kail, Gordos Alkin, Carma Sandra, Priest Grevens, Priest Halmers, Tamern Zeld, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Seven.

_**Mission**_

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"Hello."

Tidus and Akail both startled visibly. They had been trapped in this white space for what seemed like a lifetime, it was not a room, as it had no floor or ceiling, or even walls. It was just and endless white. When they had first awoken, after feeling themselves slip away while their friends fought Sin, they had traveled for what felt like days on end, but the white neither ended, nor changed. They had discovered quickly that they needed no nourishment, and they never tired. They didn't give up on trying to find a way out of the white abyss, but after months of wandering, they stopped trying as hard.

But now, they were no longer alone. Three woman stood in the white with them. Three woman Akail recognized. "The Magus Sisters?"

"Yes. This is we." The shortest sister replied. "I am named Sen."

"I am Keer." the largest sister said.

"And I am Ni." the tallest sister finished.

"Mals wishes to apologize. He is just following orders, but things have not proceeded as they were foretold to, and he wants to apologize to you, Commander. You were not supposed to leave the mortal plain."

"It's not like he was the one to have me shot, he's just a kid, he doesn't have the power to... eh?" Akail suddenly stopped talking, and his face went blank for a moment. "Sorry, forgot what I was gonna say. Who's Mals?"

The three sisters shared a look but said nothing.

Tired of being ignored, Tidus suddenly yelled, "Let us out of here!"

"Soon..." Keer replied soothingly.

"We came to tell you that the journey starts soon, and to see if... well, it is not important at the moment."

As soon as Sen stopped speaking, the three sisters vanished as if they had never been there. Akail and Tidus watched the place where they had been standing in silence for the next three months, but the three sisters did not come back. They went back to their wandering after that.

---

"Majokage! Majokage!"

Batalax closed her eyes and counted to ten in her head before turning around with a patient smile, "Hello Shelinda."

"It is wonderful to see you, Lady Ophelia." The young woman said with a cheerful smile, "I finished those papers you wanted. Where do you wish for me to put them?"

Finished? Already? Batalax had only asked the young acolyte to write up the papers for her a couple days ago. There were over five thousand pages. It was Yevons New Order. "Amazing. You have saved me so much time. Please, have them put on my desk."

"As you wish, Lady Majokage." The acolyte smiled far too pleasantly for three in the morning, and made her way down the twisting hallways of the Bevelle temple, and then she was out of sight.

"Nice girl." Batalax commented to herself before turning away and continuing to her quarters, "But kinda strange."

It had been two months since she had become Majokage. Two very busy months. Her and Luzzu had gotten married on the Besaid beach, two weeks before, and after a week and a half long honeymoon, she was back in Bevelle working, and he was back in Zanarkand working.

Their plan had progressed much smoother than she had believed it would, and it had been almost painfully easy to find people to help them. Batalax herself, had just sent a com message to Baralai the day before, saying that she would really wish to talk to him, and for him to come to the Bevelle Temple for a meeting, if he was available.

---

Bzzt. The Video Com Sphere burst to life across the room and Nysa gestured for her class to be silent. "Koorikage! Squad Three is in need of immediate back up." the voice was grainy, but the picture was clear. Nysa could see the inside of one of the CB tents. Tents that had the Charm Bangle effect sewn right into it. The man speaking was Kihn, the Squad Three leader.

"On it." Nysa replied promptly, "Hold your position, back up will be there soon."

"Yes Koorikage." He gave a sloppy salute, and Nysa could see the blood seeping through his sleeve.

The VCS went dead and Nysa looked over the rookies she was training. She shook her head minutely a second later, "Keep training. I'll be back. Lee! You're in charge during my absence."

Nysa walked out of the CB tent and continued walking until she was out of hearing range of her class, "Luzzu Vanaid." she activated her com sphere.

"_This is Luzzu."_

"Gather your squad and head to sector fifteen immediately. Squad three is in need of assistance. Keep com active."

"_Yes Koorikage."_ There was a pause, and Nysa could hear the rustle of clothing, as he armed himself, _"Are you still coming to dinner on Friday?"_

Nysa smiled and leaned against a large tree, "Wouldn't miss it for the world. Tell B that Gippal won't be able to make it though, his team has had a major breakthrough this week, and he wont be able to get away from it."

"_Will do. Luzzu out."_

Nysa hoped he would be able to get to Squad three in time, but she wasn't too worried, as she knew Luzzu wouldn't let her down. She walked slowly back to the large tent her class was in and made her way stealthily inside. She couldn't help but smile; her kids were coming along nicely. They were no where near Zanarkand ready, but they would be able to start patrolling Yu any time now. As it was, she had them performing patrols of the moonflow, but they were ready for something a bit bigger.

"Larkin! You're going too far from your center of balance. Do the Kata again, but this time keep yourself in order. This is life or death people. For Yevon's sake, choose life.

She watched Lee issue orders and her smile grew slightly. Spira would be a much safer place with her kids around to protect it.

---

Yuna stood on the cliff face overlooking Djose. Her eyes were calculating as she figured out in her head how much more time this project would take. She had been working on it since February tenth, and it was nearing April sixth now. There were nearly eight hundred people helping her on the project so it was much further along than she had expected it would be.

"Yunie!" A cheerful voice called from behind her. Yuna immediately recognized it as the voice of her younger cousin Rikku.

"Hello Rikku." Yuna replied, with a smile she turned to face her cousin. "What brings you to Djose?"

Rikku stopped walking once she was side by side with Yuna and looked over the newly built Djose City. "I've brought my mech team. We're here to start installing power."

"Oh! Wonderful!" Yuna said excitedly, "I didn't know it was you who was coming. I was expecting Lavan and his team."

"Normally, it would have been Lav, as my team has been pretty busy excavating in Zanarkand, but when Nooj said it was Djose that needed the Machina, I had to come, as I knew you would be here. The city is looking great by the way."

"Thank you." Yuna replied sincerely, "We're no where near done though."

"Still." Rikku prompted. "This place is fantastical Yunie."

"Thanks." Yuna replied, "Come," she said with a graceful hand gesture, "I will show you around."

The Youth League, as was the name for the people working under her, had been working all over Spira since it had been created in February. So far, they had rebuilt Kilika, put a blitzball stadium in Bikanel, built Djose city, and started getting the people more used to every day Machina.

---

Nysa stood in front of her rookies, "Okay. Today is the day. Everyone split into your groups."

The Warriors stood to the left, the Black Mages stood to the right, the White Mages stood in the middle, and the rest of the class stood in a large group to the back of the class.

"You all know how this works, as you have seen it happen all the time. "Every one of you has a number in your hands. Find the people with the same number as yourself without making a single sound. You have one minute. Go."

Everyone burst into action, and Nysa was pleased to note that the Mages had not moved a muscle, instead choosing to hold their numbers in front of them for all to see. They had learned well. The warriors, assassins, thieves and every one else that had stats in stealth moved swiftly from person to person, until fifty seconds later, there were fifteen groups of four in front of her. Nysa smiled and nodded.

"Good. Take a good look at the people in your group, as from now on, this will be your team. You will need to learn to trust every person on your team with your life, and they must trust you the same." One of the Crusaders appeared in the doorway and raised a hand slightly so that she would see him. Nysa gave a slight nod in his direction to let him know she had seen, and continued talking, "Teams sixty and sixty one, you are now stationed on the Highroad, and the old road below it. Take this scroll to Jasd, it will explain where his team is being sent to now that you are relieving him. Toghil, you are in charge of team sixty. Sanu, you are in charge of team sixty one."

She continued giving out orders till she was on her last team, "Team Seventy Five, as a search and rescue team, you are to be stationed here in the Moonflow, but you are on call, so keep your com spheres free, as you could be sent out to help another team or a civilian at a moments notice."

"Yes Koorikage." They replied completely in sync.

Nysa stood there for another half a minute just looking at the people she had trained, and she had never felt this proud of something in her entire life. "Move out kids. You have a planet to protect."

And then she was alone.

That made seventy five teams that she had out patrolling Spira. Forty of which were in Zanarkand. And then there was the ex Crusaders, and the ex Chocobo Knights, who also were working under her, bringing the number up to the hundreds.

"Koorikage," The Crusader repeated once again.

"Yes, sorry Kama. I was lost in thought." Nysa walked across the large tent to meet him. Kama was one of the best ex Crusaders out there, next to Luzzu, but he had recently been hurt, and the healers had put him on house rest, much like Tara had done to her after her one sided fight with Seymour in which he had nearly killed her. Needless to say, Kama was bored, so she let him hang around and play the part of her assistant while he was healing.

"There is a woman here to see you, Koorikage."

"Oh? Who?" Nysa asked, genuinely curious, as she hadn't been expecting anyone.

"She says her name is Paine."

Nysa was out of the room before the man even had a chance to blink.

---

"You look tired, Luzzu." Batalax said from across the table.

"It's been a hard week." Luzzu replied distantly. At his wifes look, he elaborated, "Half the time, when we are exploring Zanarkand, we come across full cities, cities that are still standing, but there is no life besides the fiends... and the undead. People that have held on to life so strongly after death, that they neither moved on nor became fiends. They just... are. And I know... I know that they have to be defeated, to make the world a better place, but some of them talk as we are fighting... and most of them were just innocent people that Bevelle had killed."

"That's what war does." Batalax said softly. "Was doesn't discriminate against who is bad and who is not, it just destroys. Destruction, absolute." Batalax took a sip from her water glass, "Back on Earth, our world was at war, well, parts of the world. It was between the USA, and some European countries. We were always hearing on the news about random civilians were killed in bombings, or stray gunfire. It disgusted me. But I do understand. The people fight for something they believe with all their hearts is right. It's similar to what we're doing right now. We're fighting to make this a better world, but I'm sure there must be some people who disagree with what we are doing, but they are too far and in between to actually do something about it. In a couple years, decades maybe, that could change. In a free world, war is inevitable."

She took another drink from her water and watched as Luzzu did the same, before speaking again, "Zanarkand most likely had a lot of people from Yu killed too, but since Yu won the battle... the people had time to recover and grow... where in Zanarkand, that never happened. We don't really get to hear their side of the story, and as much as it pains me to say... they're story isn't that important. It has been over a thousand years, and the world has changed so much, because of Sin. The world we live in now, is nothing like the world they lived in then."

"But that's changing." Luzzu said. "You, Yuna, and Nysa are changing that. Making Spira into how it used to be."

"No...We're making Spira into all it can be. I don't care if it's nothing like it was back then."

"Sorry we're late." Nysa said slightly out of breath as she made her way over to their table. "Guys, this is Paine. Paine, this is Ophelia Vanaid and her husband Luzzu Vanaid." Introductions suitably over, Nysa dropped gracefully into her chair and let out a loud sigh.

"Hello Paine." Luzzu said. He recognized the silver haired girl, but he wasn't sure from where.

"Yo." Paine said slightly monotone. She sat down next to Nysa, across from Ophelia.

"Call me Batalax." the mage said, "I rarely answer to Ophelia."

Paine gave a barely noticeable nod, and before anyone could speak, Yuna and Rikku sat down at the table. Yuna next to Luzzu, and Rikku across from her, next to Nysa. "I apologize for being late." Yuna said sincerely.

"Yeah. Sorry." Rikku added, "There was a slight... malfunction, in Djose, that we had to correct before coming over. Thankfully, pops was willing to wait."

Paine seemed to suddenly realize just who Batalax and Yuna were, as Nysa noticed she seemed to close herself off even more than she normally was. She probably figured that they would turn out to be like the previous Maesters.

"How is Djose coming along, anyways? I haven't had a chance to visit since you first started the building. I've been like, really busy." Nysa said apologetically. "Paine and I have been working on a... project."

"It's nearly done." Yuna said. "We have maybe another two weeks of work, and it'll be ready for people to move in."

"Has anyone bought any of the homes yet?" Batalax asked curiously.

"Yes, actually. As soon as the city is open for living, nearly every house has already been sold, to people from all over Yu."

"A good portion of them are from Home, as now my people don't actually have to live in the dessert." Rikku said happily.

"That's wonderful." Luzzu said.

"So, Paine, what is it you and Ny have been working on?"

Paine and Nysa shared a look before Paine gave a slow nod. "We're Sphere hunting." Nysa said. "All of my troops are currently out on the field, and it'll be another month or two before Gippal declares the next rookies ready for training from me. Apparently, I'm too hard on them, so he trains them the beginners and intermediate stuff, while I teach them the more advanced stuff."

"So in other words, you were bored." Rikku said.

Nysa shrugged, not saying yes or no. Batalax knew that she was searching for a way to take down Shuyin, but the rest were clueless. Yuna had a small incline that something more was going on, but she was too polite to ask, and Rikku was oblivious. Luzzu knew what was going on. As he worked for her, he was under orders to keep an eye on Gippal, as Shuyin seemed to like possessing the members of the Crimson Squad.

"Rikku is my name." The blond thief said suddenly to Paine.

"Paine." The silver haired warrior replied blandly.

"Well then, Dr. P, how do you know the Koorikage?"

"We teamed up together to sphere hunt." Nysa replied.

"I heard the Koorikage was looking for a partner." Paine said at the same time.

"What's sphere huntin' like?"

"It's hard work, a good portion of the time. The Spheres that haven't been found usually haven't been found because they are in extremely hard to get to locations."

The truth was, Paine and her were looking for the Crimson Spheres, the spheres Paine recorded of the incident in the caves, where most of their team was killed, and Nooj was possessed. They were trying to find a way to exercise Shuyin from Nooj, and send him. In the beginning, Nysa hadn't wanted to involve herself and instead wished to leave it to Yuna, because in the game it is through looking for the spheres of Shuyin that she found Tidus. Nysa then decided that she had already changed too much, and instead would fight her way through the Farplane to find Tidus and Akail if she had to.

---

It had been two months since Paine and Nysa had started looking for the Crimson Spheres, and now they had all of them but one. Brother and Buddy had found the ship Celcius, a few weeks ago, and had convinced Rikku to join them in sphere hunting on her time off from scavenging in Zanarkand. Nysa had recently been called back to civilization to work on a schooling system with Batalax and Yuna, so Paine joined Rikku, Buddy, and Brother. They named their sphere hunting group; The Gullwings.

Batalax was still mostly working in Bevelle, but now she was working with Baralai. New Yevon was becoming a thing that the people could count on. It was all about peace, and doing anything to protect that peace. Machina was now welcome in nearly every city and town, and the people, after having it for the last couple months, were beginning to not only actively accept it's use, but also wish for more. The Al Bhed were naturally, quite pleased.

Batalax, along with making Spira run smoother for the people, had been busy setting up schooling systems. Nysa and Yuna, also had a huge part in the schooling systems. Yuna, with the location, and Nysa with who the teachers would be. Now, in some of the larger cities: Luca, Djose, and Home, to be precise, there were Kage governed Academies. Nysa told Batalax that the three Academies were based off the schools in both Final Fantasy Eight, and Naruto.

The Academies were basically military institutes, and it was decided that Nysa would run them, as the things taught were basically what she was teaching her troops anyways, just, they were taught about Spira and it's laws as well, on behalf of Batalax. The Seventy Five Squads were called back, and Nysa met them in the assembly room of the Djose Academy.

"It has been a good while since we saw each other in person last." she said softly, but her voice carried, as her troops were deathly silent to listen to her. "So far, we have two Academies up and running. The Djose Academy that we are currently in, and the Luca Academy. With these Academies, come new rules, and ranks."

"As things stand, we have been extremely out of order and far too spontaneous in what we do. That is about to change. Everyone, you are now part of the FORCE." she began to speak a little louder so as to be heard more clearly. "FORCE, will be made up of four different ranks. Genin, Seed, Chunnin, and Jonin. Those of you who have been in Zanarkand for the past couple months, are the top ranking soldiers. You are Jonin. At this rank, you are eligible for other jobs, but I will get to that later."

The one hundred and sixty people who had been patrolling Zanarkand all looked greatly pleased.

"The Squads that have been patrolling the Calm Lands, Bikanel, and Gagazet, you are the second highest ranking, Chunnin. At this rank, you are also eligible for other jobs, but someone will get to that later."

The eighty new Chunnin all gave a victory cheer.

"Those of you who have been patrolling the common roads? You are the bottom rank. Genin. Once you have mastered your main Sphere Grid, along with have your HP over four thousand, you will advance to Chunnin."

The sixty newly named Genin didn't look all that effected. They knew that they were the rookies, and more likely to receive crap jobs, as they had only been released into active duty less than three months ago.

"The rest of you..." She addressed the other hundred and fifty of her troops, "You are Seed. It is the equivalent of Chunnin, but completely solo. You are people who work for ether the Al Bhed, the Youth League, or New Yevon, but also wish to fight. Consider yourself as mostly freelance fighters, that work for a higher cause; the safety of the people. If you do get missions, they will most likely be through the Chiryooshakage or the Majokage."

The newly named Seed's didn't look too interested. As Nysa had said, they were all mostly busy with the rebuilding of Spira, and in the Al Bhed's case, the excavation of Zanarkand and the installation of Machina to the villages and cities. They only joined the FORCE, because most of them had been fighting for as long as they could remember.

"The academies will be accepting students of all ages, so if you know anyone who wants to join our forces, let them know that they may apply." Gippal said from beside her.

"These, are one of many things, that will be given out to the FORCE." Yuna said softly. She moved across the room and opened a chest. Inside of it were forehead protectors. The fabric of them was black, and in the middle of it, was a metal plate with the symbol of Yevon carved into it. "Every FORCE member will wear one of these at all times while on active duty."

"If squads one through seventy five, along with all Seed members would line up orderly, we will begin with gearing everyone up." Batalax said. "Along with the headbands, you will each get your pick of weapons, but it is up to you to get them synthesized to fit your needs. Keep this orderly, people."

The Squads came up one by one, grabbed their forehead protectors, and were led out of the room to the school's armory.

"After gearing up, all Seed are free to go, unless you have questions, in which head to room 55. Chunnin head to room 205, Jonin head to room 334, and Genin head to room 168." Batalax said into her mini microphone com sphere. It worked like a PA system, in that her voice was heard all throughout the six story building.

---

It was two hours later, and all of the troops had split up and went to their separate destinations to learn more about their new ranks. First off were the new Genin.

"So here's the thing people." Luzzu said blandly, "Your jobs really are not going to change much. You will continue your highway patrols, and city patrols. Squads 60 and 61, you are to patrol the Highroad. Squad 62, you are to patrol Besaid. Squad 63, you are to patrol Kilika. Squads 64 and 72, you are to patrol Luca. Squads 65 and 66, you are to patrol Mushroom Rock Road. Squads 67 and 74, you are to patrol Djose. Squads 68 and 75, you are to patrol Guadosalam. Squad 69, the Thunder Plains is your new domain. Macalania is for Squad 70. Bevelle will be left for Squads 71 and 73."

"If anything above level 28 comes your way, do not try and be brave. Contact someone of a higher rank for help. Most of you are nearly Chunnin in level, but not quite. When you reach the requirements, come to the nearest academy."

"Along with patrolling the roads, you all will be given other missions that may have absolutely nothing to do with fighting, such as helping the Youth League or New Yevon. Some of you may even be hired as simple help for Civilians. "

In Room 205, the Chunnin were going through a similar speech.

"Now, there are twenty Chunnin Teams, and only three locations for you to patrol."

"The locations are quite big." One of the Chunnin said haltingly.

"I know." Batalax replied. "That is why only a few of you will be taken from your posts. "Squad 40. From this day forward, until you have been relieved, you are now teachers at the Luca Academy."

The members of Squad 40 looked incredibly shocked, but then slightly proud.

"Met Va, you will be teaching the ins and outs of Black Magic. Sali Trans, you will be teaching White Magic. Judin Kraltim, you will be teaching battle support. An Prerken, you will be teaching weapon use and stealth."

"Squad 52, you will be teaching at the Djose Academy. "Vix Sald, you will be teaching Black Magic. Train Draf, you will be teaching weapons and stealth. Drewil Capp, you will be teaching White Magic, and Bell Vortahm, you will be teaching battle support."

"Squad 46, you will be teaching at the Home Academy, but as the building is no where near being done, I will have you patrolling Bikinal for the time being."

There was a moments pause, while Batalax let them digest what she had said. "Squads 41 through 45, you will patrol Bikanel. Squads 47 through 51, you will be patrolling the Calm Lands. Finally, Squads 53 through 59, you will be patrolling Gagazet."

"As Chunnin, you are eligible for a couple courses at the different Academies. These courses available are that of Hunter, and Medic. The Hunter course, is to learn the way of tracking the movement of your enemies. The job of a Hunter, will mostly to track down criminals and bring them to the nearest New Yevon court for justice to be served. The Hunter course is offered at all three academies. The Medic course, is exactly as it sounds. Those who wish to take that course will learn all about the advanced white magic, and will be offered positions at the town and city hospitals that are being built by the Youth League. The Medic course is only offered at the Djose academy."

Batalax was about to dismiss the Chunnin before she slowly smirked, "Oh yeah, Chunnin, in order to rise in the ranks to Jonin, will have to have a fight with one of the three Kage, and last for over two minutes. I can't wait to see who wants to try first."

"Oh," she added, "Those of you who are teaching, it may only be temporary for some of you, until we can find people who are better suited for the jobs."

The newly named professors looked slightly relieved.

---

"Okay. You guys are the Elite. A good many of you are this way without much training from any of our new systems, and instead have gotten your skill from being in the former Crusaders or Chocobo Knights. None of that matters. I don't care how you got to be as powerful as you are. I just care that you are. We have been exploring Zanarkand for only four and a half months, and already, we have learned so much." Nysa smiled slightly, she had never imagined the wealth of information they would get just from exploring the other country.

"Now, typically, with the system I am using, for every Genin team, there is a Jonin in charge. As we currently have fifteen Genin teams, I will need fifteen volunteers by the end of this meeting. The Jonin in charge of the Genin team will be the one to help them if they are in trouble, and to teach them while on the field. Things that you can't learn by words, things you have to learn first hand. The Genin will look up to you, as something they are striving to become."

A couple of the Jonin talked quietly between themselves, so Nysa waited another couple breaths before speaking once again.

"Now, there are three ranks above Jonin, but those of that level will be specifically chosen by myself and the other three Kage. The three ranks are ANBU, Counselor, and Sannin. Sannin are considered to be the most powerful people, second only to the Kage. There are only ever three at a time, and they have already been chosen. They are Gippal Langer, Nooj Bathazan, and Baralai Contrai."

There was a small cheer from some of the Jonin, as they all agreed with the three choices.

"The counselors, are those that work closely with the Kage, they are the group of people who make a lot of the decisions in Spira. They will mostly be working with the Majokage and Baralai. A course will be offered at the Luca academy for any who wish to join their ranks."

A couple of the Jonin looked tempted.

"The last rank is ANBU. They are the police force of Spira. They are the ones who will deal with human threats. If it goes according to plan, no one will even know who has been chosen, besides those that are chosen. These people, rank ANBU, will be trained as specialists. There will be a course offered at the Home academy, if any of you wish to take it."

"Also, if any of you so wish, there are two other courses you may wish to take. "The Hunter course, and the Medic course." She went on to explain about the different courses.

"I'm not going to change your patrol routs, so you all know what sector of Zanarkand you are still patrolling. You are all dismissed. If I think of anything else I need you to know, you will be contacted."

As the Jonin left the room, fifteen of them signed their name on a small piece of paper to become team leaders for the Genin groups. Another good portion of the Jonin signed themselves up to other courses.

---

Unsurprisingly, none of the Seeds showed up in the room Gippal was waiting in.

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	9. Chapter 8: Anniversary

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own the minor characters Priest Lanemt, Xobb, Tanya, Chris Hether, Creevey Tolins, Mollayna Sortok, Steev Des'mar, Fai Merryworth, Red Soks, Rinder Kail, Mick Kail, Torzo Kail, Zairen Kail, Gordos Alkin, Carma Sandra, Priest Grevens, Tamern Zeld, Major Kally Lisette, Lieutenant Zane Roston, and Doctor Sven Cormac. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Eight.

_**Anniversary**_

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Nysa groaned and shifted her position slightly. From what she could tell, her feet were bound together, and her hands were tied behind her back. She wasn't blindfolded, but it was far too dark to see anything anyways, so that was no help. She shifted again, trying to gain feeling back in her arms, when she bumped up against something warm.

"Mm.."

"Hello?" she whispered questionably.

There was a rustling sound and then, "Nysa?" the voice of Paine replied back, just as quietly.

"What happened?" Nysa asked urgently. She was sitting up and already had her hands untied. She bent over and untied her legs next before moving over and releasing Paine.

"I have no idea. I had been with talking to Rikku. We had just gotten back to the Celcius after finding another sphere... but then I woke up here."

"I had been on a Hover." Nysa said softly, "I had just left Highroad, and I was heading to the Djose academy to talk to Drewil Capp, the white mage that has been teaching there, as I found him a replacement so he can go back to the field." She squinted her eyes, and even tried casting scan, but still, there was not enough light to see anything at all in the dark room. She gave a sigh of exasperation, and summoned a small spark of flame into her hands and held it out so that she could see where they were. Beside her, Paine gave a quiet gasp. "What's wrong?"

"This is where it happened." Paine said softly.

Nysa didn't need to know what it was, as she had seen enough of the Crimson Spheres that she recognized the cave as the place that Shuyin had been released from.

"You're awake." A voice said from behind them. Both girls turned quickly.

"Nooj!" Paine said.

"No." Nysa said quickly. She could already tell that she was unarmed, and that her item pouches had been taken, along with her com sphere. A quick glance at Paine showed that she was in the same predicament. Nysa inwardly smirked. Since defeating Sin, even before then, she had played herself off as the typical thief warrior. No one knew that she was far more than that. "This is not Nooj. Isn't that right? ..Shuyin?"

Nooj looked slightly startled, but his expression was angry. He took a menacing step forward and raised the gun he had in his hands. "How did you know?"

"I know... because of Lenne." Nysa said softly, praying that their plan would work. She had gotten Shinra to start making the Dresspheres a month ago, but she hadn't gotten a chance to test out the Songstress sphere, and was still unsure whether or not only Yuna was able to bring out Lenne's soul. Nysa had done a pretty convincing cosplay of Lenne for Halloween back on Earth, but being similar in looks had nothing to do with drawing out someones soul. But then again, Yuna and Lenne were damn near identical save for the eye color and hair length...

"Lenne?" Nooj said, but both girls could see that another form was beginning to overlap his. A face that looked so much like Tidus, but so much angrier than Tidus had ever been, even at his worst.

"Why did you capture us?" Paine asked suddenly, but by the tone of her voice, it was easily heard that she was more concerned about _how_ he had captured them. The last thing she remembered was griping at Rikku about calling her by that annoying nickname. She looked around discreetly, but didn't see Rikku anywhere in the cave, but that didn't mean she wasn't there, as the light Nysa had been able to summon barely lit up the distance between them and Nooj, and he was right in front of them.

Nooj looked smug, "Nothing can stop me. Not even you, Koorikage."

"So you decided to get me out of the way?" Nysa said blandly, as if she didn't care one way or the other. "But what of Paine? Why take her too?"

"She has the only evidence of my presence here. No one can know until I have activated the machine!"

That meant he wanted the Crimson Spheres destroyed. The last thing he had said clued into the thief's mind and she laughed lightly, "Do you mean Vegnagun? Because if you do, I gotta apologize. In eight days, it'll have been a year since Majokage Ophelia Vanaid destroyed it."

Wait... eight days? That would put today as the eighth of August... meaning it had been exactly a year since the defeat of Sin. Ironic. She thought. "Besides," she continued, still in the same bland tone, "do you honestly _think_ we would allow you to destroy Spira, after all the work we have put into it's rebirth? The Spiral of Death ended a year ago, and I for one, am not about to let it start again."

Paine just continued to stare at the spirit overlapping what was once a good friend of hers.

Shuyin stayed silent, but they could both easily see that he was furious. "Look, Shuyin. I'm sorry. What Bevelle did to you and your country... is unforgivable. But it was a very long time ago, and a lot has changed." Nysa paused and looked Shuyin in the eyes, "_Everything_ has changed. You've been living in the body of the second in command for the Chiryooshakage, even you have to see that things are not the same. The people are not the same."

"And yet," he said spitefully, "The invasion on Zanarkand continues!" He took a step forward angrily, and looked as if he was about to shoot Nysa. "Your armies are still invading my home, years later, with no regard to the innocent people. Lenne died to protect the people, she was killed by _your_ men! Because she didn't want me to kill them! She was trying to save your men, because she was a good person. Nothing like you!"

"Shuyin..." Nysa whispered. She looked down, but refused to feel shame for something that had happened long before she was born. If only she knew why she honestly felt as if she could have stopped it from happening... "That was over a thousand years ago. Those men? They were _not_ my men. They were the men of a man named Yu Yevon. A man that a year ago, myself and seven others killed and sent to the Farplane." Nysa took a step forward, her eyes begging him to understand, "Yu Yevon didn't just kill the people of Zanarkand... he killed the people from everywhere. After Zanarkands fall, he was still so hungry for power, he started an eternal summoning that he used to go after his own people. Over the last thousand years, millions of people have been killed. City after city have been leveled... and dream after dream have been shattered."

Nysa looked at him beseechingly, "Do you really thing the people of Spira need more punishment? Punishment for something they had no part in? ...Because I don't. And we're not invading your country. Zanarkand is considered a holy place, but it is also unsafe, as the fiends there are beyond powerful, we're working to make it safer, so that the people will be safer. You want your people to be safe, don't you?" She would neglect to mention the fact that no one had lived in Zanarkand since it's fall.

"They killed her."

"And I'm sorry. But the people who killed her are long dead." Nysa said shortly.

His eyes narrowed, and Paine realized that nothing they said was really getting through to him. He was too far gone in his grief and anger. She still had no idea what was going on, and she was afraid if she moved, this spirit; Shuyin, would shoot the Koorikage, which even if she didn't work for the older girl, was something she would not allow to happen.

"I will end Spira!"

"Over my dead body." Nysa shot back coldly.

"That can be arranged." Shuyin replied as he clicked the safety off of his gun.

Nysa let out a startled laugh, as if she thought the entire thing was hilarious. "I hope you realize..." her right leg moved back slightly as she put herself into her most common fighting position, "That I was not named the leader of the Military... because I look good in uniform." in her hands, two silver twin daggers appeared.

Paine snorted lightly, probably amused over the fact that Nysa _never_ wore a uniform. The girl always wore ether a bright, nearly neon color, usually yellow or green, or she wore complete black, there was usually never any middle ground. The only thing that ever stayed the same in her outfits, were the yellow item pouches strapped to her legs, the stylish goggles around her neck, and the Yevon forehead protector that she wore tied around her left thigh.

The rest of the FORCE, wore partial uniforms, mostly so that people could see what rank they were without having to ask. The Genin wore whatever they wanted, as long as it was comfortable and easy to move in. The Chunnin also wore whatever they wanted, but they also wore a forest green vest with many pockets that were designed to be like the multi storage item pouches. The Jonin wore camouflage pants, black shirts, and green vests with many multi item storage pockets. Hunters wore all black, along with a white porcelain mask. Medics wore the regular clothing of their rank, along with a white lab coat over top. ANBU wore something similar to the Hunters, but instead of just black clothing, they wore black organization thirteen styled robes, and white porcelain animal masks. All of them wore their forehead protectors.

Shuyin's eyes narrowed even further as he looked at the daggers. He had no idea where they had come from, as he was positive he had taken all of their weapons. Unbeknown to him, they were made from ice, and a minute ago, they had never existed.

"I'm sorry Shuyin. But you need to go to the Farplane." Nysa said apologetically. "But... there's someone who needs to go with you."

Paine looked slightly curious, while if anything, Shuyin looked even angrier.

Nysa shook the charm bracelet on her left wrist slightly, and in a small flash her outfit changed. Before she could do anything else, Nooj dropped to the ground and Shuyin stood there, "You're not Lenne!"

"Shuyin! Stop this!" Nysa said urgently. She didn't want to fight him. She didn't want his final death to be like this. She wanted him to get peace. "Paine, get Nooj out of here. I'll handle this."

Paine followed her orders immediately. And once she was out of the cave, she had no idea why. She hadn't even thought about it, something about the way Nysa said it just made her feel like she had to obey. Paine pulled Nooj's head into her lap and closed her eyes, "You're our captain..." she said to him softly.

Back in the cave, Nysa continued to stare down Shuyin until finally, he attacked. She dodged the sword strike and threw a couple ice needles his way before she had to roll to the side to avoid another strike. "Please, Shuyin! I do not want to fight you!" she really didn't. Because she was terrible at holding back, and she didn't want to kill him. That's why she wouldn't train anyone other than lower than Jonin. She would only end up hurting them. When she had set everything up, she had put Yuna working with Nooj for somewhat selfish reasons. Yuna, physically, was the weakest of the three Kage, and since he was working with her and saw how she was, Nysa had hoped he would underestimate her and Batalax. Her plan had worked, but now he was underestimating her too much.

Of course, she thought, Yuna isn't as weak as she was a year ago ether. The girl had taken to the combat parts of the Sphere Grid like a kite takes to air. Strangely enough, even with all the interfering she and Batalax had done with the time line, Yuna had still managed to get her outfit from X2, along with the skill as a Gunner.

He called out his strongest attack and became a blur as he reigned strike upon strike down at her. Nysa withstood it all, and then when he had went back to his starting position, she stood calmly as if nothing had happened. "Shuyin. This stops now. Lenne loved you, she wouldn't want you to destroy Spira."

"You will never understand!" he cried out and raised his sword once again.

Nysa narrowed her eyes, and her twin daggers changed into a staff made of ice. "I said I didn't want to fight you! ...I never said I wouldn't." She would much prefer to not have to though. She closed her eyes and reached deep inside herself to the part of her mind and magic that was connected to the Dressphere._ Lenne... if you can here me, he needs you now._

_Shuyinnnn..._

Nysa's eyes opened, and a figure began to overlap her much as it had done to Nooj. Only a second later, the spiritual figure stepped out of her and towards Shuyin.

Shuyin lowered his sword slightly, "_Lenne_?" he breathed. She reached out to touch him and he jumped back and nearly fell over, but she caught him by the arm.

"Lenne." he repeated, more sure this time.

"Hi there." she said softly.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself to grip her hand like a lifeline. "Ugh... A thousand years.. and this moment is all we get?"

"This moment's enough." she said. "I don't need anything else. Just knowing how you feel is enough."

There was a moment of silence and Lenne spoke again, "Shuyin... let's end this. Let's go home."

Shuyin looked doubtfully at her and shook his head slightly, "Can we?" he reached up shakily and touched her face.

"That was all a thousand years ago." she replied gently. She put both hands on his shoulders, "We've come too far to look back now. Rest Shuyin... Rest with me." She hugged him to her, and he wrapped his arms around her waist as if he never wished to let go. "Let's go. I have a new song for you." she said and looked over at Nysa, "Thank you."

And then they both slowly faded away into pireflies.

In the spot he had been standing, all the items he had taken from them sat in a small pile. Nysa quickly re-equipped her com sphere, and then re-strapped her items pouches to her, along with her multiple weapons. She picked up Paine's items and couldn't help but think that this whole thing had been far to anti-climatic.

In the game, he had nearly torn Spira apart before he had been sent to the Farplane. Yuna had been dragged into it, as had all the other leaders of the three factions, along with some of their friends and followers. But here, in the now, it was just her. For some reason, that made her feel slightly sad.

---

"So it's over?"

"...I guess."

"Nysa, what's wrong?"

Nysa let out a deep sigh, "It's just. In the game, after getting rid of Shuyin... Tidus came back. What if I've messed everything up?"

"If anyone messed things up, it was me." The mage said, "you and I both know this. I'm the one who went all zap-zap-bam-Vegnagun-must-die." Batalax gestured wildly with her hands as she said this, causing them both to laugh quietly.

It was the day after Shuyin and Lenne had gotten their happy ending. Batalax and Nysa were taking advantage of the small calm. So here they sat, on a blanket with a picnic basket, in the middle of the Besaid beach.

Nysa was silent as she took a sip of her Mana Energy. "I wonder what the others are doing right now?"

"Probably working. Or going to College, or something." Batalax said softly, "Time moves like, double time there, so while it's only been a year here, it may have been more there."

"It's strange to think, that if we were to ever see them again, we would most likely be a couple years younger than them. Which, by the way, did you happen to notice that we both missed our birthdays...again?"

"I did notice, actually." Batalax said sheepishly. "I was teaching my course for becoming one of our Counselors, when someone mentioned that in two weeks it would be a year since the start of the eternal calm. I was a little surprised. We've been on the go so much this year, it feels like only a couple months had passed, not an entire year. I don't feel twenty though... I feel older. Much older."

"Me too."

Both girls sat and continued to soak up the sun. They were both wearing skimpy bikinis; Nysa's was white and yellow, while Batalax's was white and purple. Nysa still had her goggles around her neck, an item pouch strapped to each leg, and her forehead protector was currently in her item pouch, as she didn't want tan lines on her leg from it, of course when she had told this to Batalax, the slightly older girl had laughed hysterically and pointed repeatedly at her item pouches before laughing again. Batalax had nothing with her besides Tikki George which lay on the blanked beside her, and her forehead protector which was tied around her head like a headband, though her bangs mostly covered it.

"So, who's the next big bad that's gonna attack Spira?"

"I don't know." Nysa replied honestly. "From here on out... well, everything is as new to me, as it is to you. So... no more inside information... Sorry."

"Oh." Batalax said. "It's going to be kinda strange now... everything being unknown."

"Yeah. It is. But we still have our mission. I'm just... not sure when it will start. I'm going to give Bahamut another year to send us a sign, and if he doesn't... well. We're going hunting."

Batalax let out an evil sounding laugh.

"So, what are your plans for the next month?"

"Not much, actually. I have Baralai handling most of the paperwork, well, I still have to be the one to sign things or decline to sign them, but he sorts most of it pretty well. My next class for teaching up coming politicians for New Yevon doesn't start for another five months. It had a pretty good turn out, by the way. All of the priests and priestess of old Yevon were obligated to come and be evaluated, mostly so they could learn the new laws and regulations. There were only a few who didn't pass and were kicked out of the order... actually, most of those few ended up getting arrested. Turns out they were planning on blowing up Home."

"Mm.. Gippal mentioned that to me. He ordered some of the new Hunters to track them down and bring them to Bevelle, because they had apparently run for it after being kicked out of Yevon. I heard that the Hunters have been handed over to you?"

"Yeah, I figured that since I am the one that will be giving them their missions, as I'm the one who deals with law and criminals, it would be easier if the hunters worked for me and respected me as their leader." Batalax said. "What are your plans for the next month?"

"Probably some paperwork. I have to be the one to agree to requests sent out for the Genin teams, and wow, you would not believe some of the things people hire them out to do. Last week, Squad 78 was taken off their patrol of the thunder plains... to babysit a bunch of kids in Kilika while their parents went out of town to attend a seminar at the Luca Academy.."

"Really?" Batalax laughed. "Wait, Squad 78? I thought you only had 75 squads?"

"I did. But that was two months ago. There have been twenty more teems join the ranks of Genin."

"That's eighty more Genin! Does that mean twenty more of your Jonin have left Zanarkand to lead the Genin teams?"

"Yeah. But there are still twenty teams in Zanarkand, along with the fifty Al Bhed teams who work with us, but not necessarily for us."

"Still. If Academy Students keep advancing to Genin so fast, and we continue with sending a Jonin with each team... You're going to run out of Jonin in Zanarkand."

"It's going to slow down a lot now, as before now, all the teams who had been sent out are those who have already started on their sphere grids. They are mostly older, and have been around to fight Sin spawn and fiends, long before we came here. But now that all of them have been put on the field, the people in the academies are school age, like, late elementary school age to early high school age. Some are younger, if they showed enough potential." She took another sip of her drink, "A lot of them signed up because they have nothing else. Because unfortunately, many of Spira's youth have no parents."

"That makes a... lot of sense, actually. When are the next teams going to become Genin?"

"In a year, maybe." Nysa replied. "The academy students currently attending, and all those who will attend after them, have little to no training at all. They have to learn how to focus enough to access their skills, long before they learn how to actually use them. Meaning it could actually be a couple years before we get our next batch of Genin."

"Wow."

"Yeah." Nysa said. She rolled over so that her back could get tanned, "I remember when I first talked with Yuna's guardians? Lulu seemed completely shocked when I told her that you had only been a black mage for a couple days, because apparently, for people who aren't us, it can take up to years learning how to channel magic into the Sphere grid."

"Really? I'm awesome!"

"I knew you'd say that. That's why I told her not to tell you. I was afraid your ego would get Goon sized."

They both let out a sigh, _Goon... _Goon had been a stuffed lion Xander had gotten Nysa years ago. It's head was nearly the same size as it's body, so whenever they mentioned someone having an ego, they would warn them that they'd end up big headed like Goon. Batalax had loved that lion probably more than Nysa herself.

"What is going to be the usual age of people when they start the Academy?"

"I'm not sure. I actually wanted your opinion on that. I've based the Academies off of an anime called Naruto, as I've told you before. But in the anime, kids started attending the Academy when they were around six years old, and they graduated when they were around twelve. I understand the need for that, but personally, I think six years old is far too young to decide if you want to join the military."

"Yeah. It is. But the Academies, while mostly military, aren't completely. They also teach people how to be doctors, and mechanics, and lots of other things. Plus; kids can always drop out if they don't like it. There isn't a binding contract or anything."

"True. Can you let the council know that the Academies are accepting students six years old and above?"

"I can do that." Batalax replied. She sat up and took a sip from her drink. "So you get enough teachers for the three Academies?"

"Oh yeah." Nysa said. She shot a smirk in her friends direction, "Half of the retired Warrior Monks are teaching. Most of the White Mages that had run the temples, are now running the hospitals, while Priest Lament is teaching the Chunnin and above Medic course at Djose. Oh, Lulu is also teaching some advanced Black Magic courses on her spare time. Actually, a lot of former Guardians and former Summoners are teaching at the Academies. Also, a lot of the Seed members decided to teach, and while they're lessens are rather informal, they do seem to know what they're talking about. They're people like us, who had no training. They just learned everything as they went."

"Yeah. I've met a good portion of the Seed members. Most of them work mostly with Yuna and Nooj, right?"

"Yeah. Most of them are in the Youth League. Although, Aren't some of them in New Yevon as well?"

"Yeah." Batalax replied. "Just out of curiosity... how many people do you have out in the field working for you now?"

Nysa did a quick count in her head, "five hundred and twenty six. A lot more if you count those that are still in training."

"Really?" Batalax asked, she sat up and looked at Nysa, "What ranks are they all?"

"One hundred and sixty of them are Jonin. Out of those Jonin, twenty nine are Squad Leaders for Genin teams, twenty of them are ANBU, ten of them are working for you as Counselors, twenty five of them are Medics working in hospitals all around Spira, and the other eighty one are in Zanarkand."

"One hundred of them are Chunnin. Out of those, twelve of them are teaching at the Academies, twenty are Hunters, thirty of them are Medics working in hospitals, and the other thirty eight are in teams of three patrolling the Calm Lands, Gagazet, and Bikanel."

"For Genin, there are one hundred and sixteen people. They are split into twenty nine teams. Two teams to nearly every location in Yu. Two to Besaid, two to Kilika, two to Luca, two to the Highroad, two to Mushroom Rock Road, two to Djose, two to the Moonflow, two to Guadosalam, two to the Thunder Plains, two to Macalania Forest, and two to Bevelle."

"That is only twenty two teams, what about the other seven teams?"

"They are on standby. It is them who are usually hired out by the general population. Of course, their patrol routs are changed once every two weeks, so the ones who are on standby doing random missions for Civilians, are not the same teams who will be on stand by a week from now."

"The other one hundred and fifty are Seed. I don't actually give them orders, unless they are desperately needed. They are basically the people who are on standby at all times. You and Yuna can contact them if you need to hire someone out for a mission."

"That actually sounds quite well organized." Batalax said, slightly awed.

Faint footfalls could be heard on the sand as a group of people made their way over to them. Batalax squinted up at them, but didn't recognize any of them. Nysa did the same, only she did recognize them. They didn't seem to recognize her though.

"Excuse me, but we're going to have to ask the two of you to pack up your stuff so you can be escorted to the village. A very large fiend has appeared in the water, and it's not safe for civilians to be this far from the safety of the village." the man speaking was Jonin Mervo Lantac, leader of Genin Squad eighty two.

"A large fiend?" Batalax asked, "What kind?"

"The _dangerous_ kind, you have to get out of here." replied one of the four Genin. He looked to be around fourteen.

"Dangerous... Hmm. Sounds like an adventure." Nysa said, her eyes were sparkling with mischief, and Batalax couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't believe you understand, this fiend is very dangerous. Level eighty at the least."

Nysa's eyes widened, as did Batalax's. Something that high of a level was Zanarkand level even Sin Spawn level. A lot of her higher Jonin would have trouble dealing with something that powerful, and their were only two Jonin currently on Besaid Island? She was thankful her and Batalax had taken the day off. "B. Gear up. We got ourselves a fiend to fight."

"Lady, I don't think you get it! This thing will tear you apart! You have to get out of here now. I'm a Jonin, and even I don't know... I've called for back up, but please get to the village!"

"Calm down." Nysa ordered. She watched as Batalax took off up the beach to her house, "Where is the fiend coming from, and how do you know it is coming?"

"The S.S Winno sent us a message... just before it was destroyed."

"Fuck." Nysa cursed, "Why was I not told!"

The four Genin and their leader looked confused.

Nysa raised a hand and unclipped the hair-clip holding her hair in a bun and let the mess of hair and tiny braids cascade down her back. She then pulled her forehead protester out of her item pouch and strapped it to her right thigh above her item pouch. "Do I need to repeat myself Lantac?" She said exasperatedly.

All four Genin and their Jonin leader all snapped to attention and looked highly embarrassed. "No, Lady Koorikage."

"Gippal said you were unavailable." the only female Genin in the group said. Nysa remembered her name to be Carilla.

Nysa shook her head, of course he would say that. He knew that she had sent Shuyin the previous day, and after all the trouble the unsent had been for him and his team, it was no wonder he assumed she would like to be left alone. She hadn't gotten a chance to fully debrief him on what had happened. "Mm. I was, _yesterday_. I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him today." Nysa closed her eyes for a moment. "Contact Brother Highwind, captain of the Celcius. Tell him to come to Besaid immediately."

"Yes Koorikage."

Nysa slipped on her green flip flops, "I'll be back down in ten minutes. Have your team secure the perimeter. About an hour ago, there were a couple children playing in the ruins to the south of here, make sure they are no longer there."

"Yes Koorikage." Mervo saluted and started issuing orders to his team.

Nysa ran from the beach at a haste induced speed until she got to Batalax's house, in which she noticed the door was still open. Once inside, she made her way up the stairs four at a time, and ran to her room. She pulled on a pair of camouflage colored short shorts, pulled her hair into a pony tale, and was out the door.

When she got down the stairs, she had to sidestep so she didn't run into Batalax. Batalax had changed into what she normally wore when she was playing her part as Majokage, the leader of New Yevon. She wore a skin tight purple tunic that went down to her thighs, black capri's. She had sleeves much like Yuna's from the first quest, meaning they were not attached to her outfit, instead being attached to her upper arms; the sleeves were black and flowing. She had two black and purple item pouches, one strapped to each leg. Her boots were white and ankle length. She wore a white priestess robe over the assemble. To finish her outfit, she had Mr Tikki strapped to her back.

"What's the situation?"

"The S.S Winno was destroyed." Nysa replied back seriously.

"Shit.." Batalax was already out of the house with Nysa behind her. She stopped for a moment to allow Nysa time to ditch her flip flops and replace them with black combat boots. Her yellow ones had been destroyed a couple months back, and she had yet to find replacements.

"The Celcius should be on it's way. I figured we would be able to see the fiend better from air. If not, I can create an ice way for us to walk on."

"Good plan. Any ideas on extermination? I'm best with electricity, which would most definitely kill it... but it would also kill the fish and other sea life, which I will not do--" She cut Nysa off before she could even open her mouth, "--And I don't care _how_ much you hate fish. I won't kill them. It's one of the main food sources for these islands, after all."

"Bah." Nysa huffed, "Depending on the speed of the Fiend, I may be able to kill it with an ice spear. But honestly Ophelia... it's not the fiend that worries me. It's the fact that it has gotten this close to civilization before anyone knew about it. A fiend this size shouldn't just... appear out of nowhere."

The dirt gave way to sand as they made their way back to the beach. Both girls were slightly sad that their day of relaxation had been ruined, as the day had a certain tranquil quality that was normally hard to find. The sky was clear of any blemishes, and there was enough of an ocean breeze that the heat of it being a tropical island wasn't overwhelming. In fact, around two hours before they had been interrupted, the two young woman had been swimming in the lagoon below Ophelia's home.

As they made their way back to where their picnic had been interrupted, Batalax noticed that another Squad had showed up, along with Wakka and Lulu. She immediately went and stood by Lulu, while Nysa continued to walk until she was standing just before the gently lapping water.

"What's she doin' ya?"

Batalax just shrugged at Wakka's question, "No idea."

A loud hum sound could be heard, and everyone turned their eyes to the sky as the Celcius appeared. The group quickly made their way across the sandy beach to the dock where they were met by Rikku. "Come on guys! It's huge! Nearly the size of Kilika! We gotta stop it before it gets closer to the village!"

"Squad Seventy, stay on the island. Make sure the people stay calm, and far away from the beaches. Also keep an eye out for fiends, a lot of the time, they can sense danger, and it makes them more wild than usual."

"Yes Koorikage." The team leader replied before he and his team headed in the opposite direction of the airship.

Nearly the size of Kilika? If it came closer to the village... they wouldn't have to worry about it attacking. Something that big would cause the entire place to be wiped out by floods! It would be like a tsunami hitting! Batalax swallowed thickly, Besaid was her home, and by Yevon, she was not about to let some island impersonator destroy it!

"_Take us over it._" Nysa ordered in Al Bhed to Brother, as they entered the bridge of the ship.

"_On it." _He replied.

It was a couple minutes later when they finally reached the fiend. Everyone let out gasps as they realized just how big it was. Batalax was out of the room and in the elevator with Nysa before the rest of them had even finished taking in the sight. Once on the deck of the ship, both girls went to the edge and looked down. The gasped again, but this time for a completely different reason.

"It's not a fiend..." Batalax breathed. Her eyes were wide and her fists were clenched tightly around her torch. She paid no mind to the wind whipping her hair about as her eyes stayed locked on the creature below.

The creature was dark green, almost black, and it faded into a lighter green that looked almost brown. There were multiple tentacles, all of them a lighter green, but still rather dark. It looked up at them with multiple eyes. Under the eyes was a giant mouth that looked as if it could swallow a behemoth whole. It was terrifying to even look at.

"It's a freakin' Kraken! Damn Cuttlefish! I told you fish were evil!" Nysa said viciously. Batalax noticed that she too was looking down at the creature with wide eyes. The thief's knuckles were white from the tight grip she had on the thin railing set up around the ship. Nysa was greatly known for her extreme fear of fish and sea like creatures, or at least she was back on earth.

"We can't kill it." Batalax said venomously, "It's just an animal. It doesn't know that what it's doing could kill hundreds of people... it doesn't know."

"B... everything I have ever read or seen about Krakens depicts them as horrible, _twisted_, creatures. Even if it did know that it was killing hundreds of people... I don't think it would care."

"But..."

"Ophelia. If we don't do something about this, _right now_. Everyone on Besaid will die."

Batalax met Nysa's eyes defiantly, and they seemed to lock gazes for an eternity before the mage looked down in defeat. Her hands clenched tighter around her torch as she heard the sound of the elevator doors opening as Squad eighty two, Wakka, Lulu, Rikku, and Paine walked towards them. "Okay..." she admitted quietly. "We'll kill it, but _how_?"

"I'm still thinking ice would be the best bet." Nysa said. "It wont harm anything other than the Kraken, and it should be an incredibly quick and _painless_ death."

"What is the plan, Koorikage, Majokage?"

"She's going to kill it. Spear it with ice." Batalax said with a hint of bitterness leaking into her voice. She wasn't one to kill animals. If she didn't like meat so much, she would have become a vegetarian.

"Good plan. Where are you going to get the ice?" Mervo asked.

Nysa had forgotten that no one was aware of her powers over ice or Batalax's over electricity. Even Wakka and Lulu, who had known, assumed that the powers had vanished with the sending of the Aeons. It probably had something to do with the fact that she only really used it when she was alone, and Batalax didn't use hers at all, except as a boost to her thunder spells.

"I'll handle it." Nysa said shortly. She sent out a faint prayer that she wouldn't miss and let loose a hail of thin, nearly invisible spears of ice down at the creature. She closed her eyes as they hit. The creature let out a loud screech of pain that had them all covering their ears. Beside her, Batalax visibly winced when the large creature turned into pireflies a few moments later. The water down below went down by around ten inches, visibly. "It's done." Nysa said coldly.

Batalax left the deck and headed to the elevator, after a moment, Nysa followed. Squad eighty two, along with the others continued to look down at the water where the large, almost Sin sized fiend had been moments before. All of them were wondering the same thing; _just how powerful were those two women?_

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	10. Chapter 9: Darkness of the Heart

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own all the characters you do not recognize. I would name them, but there are far too many of them. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Nine.

_**Darkness of the heart**_

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It was later that night, both girls sat on the upstairs deck of Batalax's home with their legs dangling below. The water below was still, save for a gentle lapping against the cliff. The night was as clear as the day had been, and the stars were bright enough that they required no light in order to see. It was like a blanket of stars twinkling just for them. The stars reflected off the water adding to the calming atmosphere of the night.

"I'm sorry." Nysa and Batalax said simultaneously. They chanced a look at one another before laughing quietly.

"No. Really. I'm sorry I had to kill it. I think... I got the feeling it was hurt. I don't know if it was something in the water, or from the harpoons on the boat it... _But,_ I did my best to make it's death quick."

"I know." Batalax said. "I'm sorry for getting mad... I just, I worry about you Nysa. You're in charge of a pretty freakin large military. Military leaders tend to go power crazy if there is no one higher than them... and you've been so different since the others left. You've been so much more quiet, and no offense, but when did you get as cunning and ambitious as you are? You were always a go with the flow type of person, who never really cared about anything strongly enough to do something abut it."

"I'm not going to let it go to my head, B. I just... Honestly? I have no idea what I'm doing. Half of the things I've done, I've made up on the spot. The other half are things I've stolen from other cultures, and just prayed to whatever higher powers there are that it wouldn't backfire. I think it's been complete luck that everything in my faction has turned out as well as it has."

This made Ophelia laugh, "Nysa, you're a thief. Professionally. It's almost expected for you to steal stuff and make stuff up spontaneously. It's what thieves do. Most of what I've done has been thought out to the point that it makes my brain hurt, but again, I'm a mage. Thinking is kinda in the job description." Batalax leaned over so she was looking down at the dark water below, "What I really want to know, is when did we become so stereotypical? You and I were always the ones that hated labels, and now, we've actually become like... the epitome of labels. Everything that a thief is supposed to be, you are. Everything that a Black Mage is supposed to be... I am."

"We're so much more than that though..." Nysa said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. But no one else really knows that."

"Luzzu does. So does Yuna, Paine and Rikku. Well, for the most part, Paine and Rikku honestly don't know much, but they have to have some suspisions."

"We're not like normal people, even on Spira."

Nysa sighed deeply, "I miss being normal... Anonymous. Someone who could walk down the street and not be noticed."

Batalax laughed, "How can you miss something you never had? Cause no offense, but you've never been normal. You were the kinda person people couldn't help but see, you were kinda eccentric, after all. I'll admit, not many people knew who you were... but that didn't mean they didn't notice you. I remember once day, you came to school wearing bright red pants and a neon yellow tank top. Truthfully, there was something about you that was really intimidating, even back then. It's like... you knew who you were, and you didn't have to prove anything to anyone. I think that pissed a lot of people off."

"Bah! I was always perfectly normal! It was everyone else who was strange. But hey, you weren't exactly the most normal person ether B. That's why I was drawn to you on the first day of school in grade ten. You sat behind me in homeroom, and I didn't recognize you, so I knew you had to be new--"

"You stole my schedule." Batalax deadpanned. "You took it right out of my hands without even introducing yourself. Then you said we had a bunch of classes together, and that you would be showing me around. I thought you were going to murder me or something!"

"....I gave it back." Nysa said sheepishly.

"Did all of your friendships start with you stealing something from them?"

"...I prefer to call it borrowing."

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"B... I'm glad you stayed. I couldn't have done this with out you."

_Yeah. You could have, _She thought, but said the opposite, "you're right. You'd be lost without the great Ophelia Batalax Vanaid! Politician Extraordinare!"

"There, there, Goon. That ego of yours gets any bigger, and you're going to overbalance and fall of the deck." Nysa said completely deadpan.

WHACK.

Nysa winced and rubbed her head where Batalax had just hit her with Tikki George. "What the hell was that for!"

"Hehe." Batalax laughed. "I challenge you to a murder off!"

"...A murder off?" Nysa replied blankly, still rubbing her head.

"Yeah!" Batalax raised a fist energetically and George Tikki disappeared. "I say we go to the Omega Ruins, and have a competition to see how many more fiends we can kill than each other!"

"....." Nysa stared at Batalax as if she was crazy, but slowly a smirk began to form on her face. "You're on."

"Tomorrow, first thing then." Batalax assured.

"Tomorrow it is." Nysa confirmed.

Both girls sat on the deck for another hour in silence, just watching the water below. Both lost in their thoughts.

---

"Ultima!"

Nysa darted forward and opened a chest while Batalax had the fiend distracted. "Yeah!" She cheered, "Mega Potion!" She jumped back on silent feet and moved past the battle to find her next fiend. She ignored Batalax's outraged accusations of her stealing the mage's mega potion. It's not like Batalax would have been able to get the chest open any ways.

Batalax glared darkly in Nysa's direction and walked right through where the fiend had been moments before. She had a score to settle.

"_Majokage?"_

"Pause the game Nysa! I got a call!" Batalax shouted across the cavern.

"Baralai, what can I do for you?"

"_Where are you?"_ his voice was faint and slightly crackly, making Batalax believe she had a bad signal here in the ruins.

"I'm on a mission with the Koorikage." Batalax replied honestly.

"_She's there too? Gippal has been trying to get a hold of her."_

"Oh." Batalax saw a burst of pireflies and ten saw Nysa walked towards her. "Gippal's been trying to call you." she turned her attention back to the com sphere, "What is it you need us for? What we're doing isn't too important, I'm sure we can cut it short."

"_There is the Anniversary Dinner tonight. Starting in around two hours." _

"I apologize, Baralai. With the last three days as busy as they have been, it completely slipped my mind. We're on our way."

"Right."

The com went dead and Batalax sighed. She looked over the cave and gave a barely noticeable wince. They were just outside of Omega's resting place, meaning that it would take them a good hour to get back outside the caves to their ship, and from there, it would be another hour boat ride to get to the mainland... and then they had to get from Mushroom Rock Road to Bevelle. "We're going to be pretty freaking late."

"To what?" Nysa asked, slightly out of breath, as she finished off another fiend.

"The Anniversary Dinner, in which the two of us, along with Yuna, are the guests of honor. Meaning we can't really skip it."

"Well damn." Nysa replied. She pulled out two bracelets, slipped one on her wrist and threw the other to Batalax who also put it on without worry. "Guess we're gonna have to have some fun." Nysa murmured, and with a flash, she cast haste and was out of the room.

Batalax followed less than a second after.

They didn't stop until they were at their ship. At the speed they had run, they made it to their ship in fifteen minutes instead of an hour. They were both out of breath and had to stop for a small ether break before continuing onto their ship. It was more of a little motor boat than a ship, but it was theirs and they loved it.

"We need an airship." Batalax complained as she started the ship. She had to be the one to drive, because Nysa had been banned from driving anything. Even Chocobo's.

"Yeah. The Al Bhed have some in the making, but they said it could be another eight months or so before they are ready for the public. The ships aren't going to be anything like the Celcius or Cids ship though, for one, they will be much smaller. Actually, how he described it, it sounded like they would basically be flying cars."

"Awesome." Batalax pulled them out of the rocky reefs she had parked the boat in, and sped the boat up to as fast as it could go once she was far enough away. "Hey Nysa... do you think it's possible to cast haste on the boat?"

Nysa gripped her seat as if she expected Batalax to do as she asked a second later, when she didn't Nysa opened her eyes but didn't release the chair. "I honestly don't see why not, you just have to remember, it may be harder to steer, and your eyes may not be able to keep up with it."

"Eh. That just makes it more funnn!" Batalax cheered and cast haste.

---

Nysa and Batalax stood outside the Bevelle Temple, they were around a half hour late, but both were pleased with the time it had taken them. They shared a look, and as one, they both gave a slight shake of their wrists and activated one of their Dresspheres.

The Dresspheres were mostly the same as they had been in the game, except there were far more of them, as Shinra had started making them much earlier. Nysa had convinced him to turn almost all the spheres they had recorded during the pilgrimage into Dresspheres. Batalax had then asked if he could incorporate some of the outfits to be things they would need, such as swim suits and ball gowns. It made it so that a lot of the time, as soon as they disactivated their sphere they would be in whatever clothing they had put on that morning, which was usually what they wore as Kage.

The Dresspheres made it extremely easy to do things last minute, as like now. They activated their Ball Dresspheres. Both girls outfits changed instantly from their casual fighting clothing, to that of fancy dresses. Like all of the Dresspheres, each different outfit came with different powers and skills. The Ball Dresspheres came with the ability to dance, along with a side effect that it made people want to subconsciously protect them, as if they were royalty.

They walked into the Temple, Batalax in her purple ball gown, and Nysa in her green one.

Gippal noticed them immediately and looked extremely relieved, as did Baralai. They took this time to study the people in the room, to see who had shown up. Batalax met eyes with her husband and they both started to make their way to one another, while Nysa set out in the opposite direction to seek out Yuna. The Chiryooshakage was also in her Ball Dressphere, though hers was pink. All of their Dresspheres had their headbands incorporated somehow, weather it be as a bandanna, a headband, a belt, or a leg band. The only Dresspheres that didn't have their forehead protectors, were the Dresspheres that were made for them to go undercover.

"Luzzu..." Batalax murmured as her redheaded knight held a hand out for her.

They started to dance and Batalax couldn't help but hold on to him. They both led such busy lives, her as the Majokage, and he as the captain of the ANBU squad. It made it so that even though they were married, they didn't see each other half as much as they would have liked.

"How was the murder off?" Luzzu asked quietly. He looked amused, which made Batalax pout. She _liked_ the name she had given their hunting game.

"It wasn't fun at all." Batalax huffed childishly with a pout. If her arms hadn't been wrapped around his neck, he bet she would have crossed them and stomped her feet.

"Nysa won, then?" Luzzu replied with a small quirk of the lips. He honestly wasn't that surprised; in the last year, Nysa had constantly been fighting, as well as teaching other how to fight. Where's Batalax had been sitting in a library going through book after book. The Mage had gotten a lot stronger mentally, while the thief had gotten a lot stronger physically. He chanced a glance over at the third Kage's direction, out of all three of them, Yuna was the one who had improved the most. She had been getting combat lessens from him and the other ANBU for months. She also hadn't needed much mental growth, as she was one of the most mature people he had ever met.

---

"I'm going to go get some fresh air." Nysa said quietly to Rikku.

"Okay! Want me to come?"

"Nah. In fact... I think you should go ask Gippal to dance with you."

Rikku made a disgusted face, but did as Nysa said anyway. Nysa smiled cheerfully and weaved her way through the crowds. She was stopped what must have been a million times, by well wishers and random FORCE members who wanted to know if she needed any back up as she left the building. Nysa smiled prettily at them and declined while inwardly cursing the Ball Dressphere. She hated people thinking she needed to be protected.

Once she made it outside, she let her smile fall. She walked slowly through the Bevelle gardens, and couldn't help but let some of her awe show on her face. She had never been to the gardens before, even though Batalax had raved about them every once and a while.

"Pretty..." she murmured. She let her hands graze some of the leaves on each side as she walked, they were covered in tiny drops of water from the rain the night before. Besaid hadn't gotten the storm, but apparently this part of the county had. Nysa lifted her dress slightly so she wouldn't step on it, and walked further into the garden. It was dark, and the sky was cloudy. The wind blew the small wisps of hair that had fallen out of her fancy updo, and she couldn't help but let a small smile grace her face.

She was about to move towards the center fountain, when a flash of something black caught her eye. She turned quickly in that direction only to see nothing. Normally, a person would let it go at that, and figure it had been a trick of the light. Nysa wasn't most people. She moved towards where she had saw it.

"The _Darkness_ isn't safe for little girls." A voice said from behind her. Even though she was absolutely positive that moments before she had been the only person in the garden.

Nysa spun on her heal and her eyes widened. It was a boy, taller than her, but most likely around fourteen or fifteen years of age. He had white, almost silver hair, wore a yellow shirt with blue poofy pants that became tighter around his ankles. It wasn't his clothing that made her surprised, or even his looks, it was the fact that she _knew_ who he was. He was named Riku. A character from the Kingdom Hearts video games.

Nysa's mind spun in circles about what this could mean. Just him being here opened up so many possibilities. Kingdom Hearts was crossed into almost all the final fantasy games, along with a good portion of the Disney worlds. Did that mean all of those worlds _existed_? It made sense that the other Final Fantasy worlds would exist, because this one did. But she had already decided they were most likely in the Pegasus Galaxy, so that meant the Stargate worlds existed too... Just how big was this universe? ...And where did she and Batalax fit into it all?

"I'm not a little girl." Nysa said defiantly. Of course, this Dressphere had the tendency to make people believe she was.

"You have to come with me."

Now Nysa was confused. What would Rikku want with _her_ of all people? From his outfit, she was guessing it was still during the first game when he was helping Maleficent collect the seven princesses of... oh crap.

"No-nonono! You've got it all wrong. You're supposed to say _please_." Nysa said patronizingly and put both hands on her hips, she looked at him sternly. It didn't show on her face, but her mind was racing.

A dark portal appeared behind him and Nysa took an instinctual step back to get a better look at it. If she could learn to do something like _that_... she would never be late for anything ever again! And she wouldn't have to walk everywhere! "I'll go with you!" She said, and then quickly added with a apologetic shrug, "on _one_ condition. You teach me how to make those portals, because you have _no_ _idea_ how much energy those things would save me!"

Riku looked confused. "You wouldn't be able to work it. You're too... _pure_." he said the last word distastefully.

Nysa couldn't help it. She laughed, hard. "Blondie-bear, I'm the Koorikage of Spira. _Pure_ isn't even in my vocabulary. If your looking for someone pure, you got the wrong Kage by a long shot. I mean, just this morning, I was involved in a _Murder off,_ which was basically a race to see who could kill more people in a certain amount of time." Nysa took a fearless step forward, and her next word came out in a whisper, "And you know what? ..._I won._" Okay, so technically, Fiends weren't people any more... but they had been at one time.

Riku was starting to look even more confused, even a bit hesitant.

"By the way, kid. You're going about everything the wrong way. If you're going to kidnap someone, you need to be sneaky. First, you gotta offer them candy... and you can't let them know anything is happening until after you have already captured them." Nysa took another step forward which caused the kid to step back. When she spoke, it was as if she was a different person. Her voice was like ice as she allowed the part of her that is Shiva to leak out. "if you led the Heartless to my world..." her eyes narrowed, "there is no where... _no where_, that you will be able to hide from me. Do you understand me? _Kid_?"

"You're not who I'm looking for." Riku said suddenly, and for some reason, he seemed nervous.

"No. I'm not." Nysa confirmed. "I know who you are. I know who your friends are, and I know your enemies. _Don't_ make me an enemy. I know you have good intentions for what you are doing, but you are going about it the wrong way."

"You know nothing!" He said hotly. His hands clenched into firsts and his eyes narrowed.

"Just answer me one thing, kid. When Maleficent gives Kairi back her heart... or shall I say... _if_, she gives her back her heart. Will you really be able to look into Kairi's eyes, or even Sora's, with the knowledge of what you have done?"

She was silent for a moment to let him digest what she had said, before she added flippantly with a half shrug, "I'd be able to. But I'm also a cold hearted bitch a good portion of the time." Nysa looked at his dark portal, "Choose wisely."

Riku gave a curt nod and was about to step back into the portal, Nysa was looking at the portal with an intense look of concentration on her face, Batalax would kill her. Gippal would kill her. Hell, even Yuna would kill her. Nysa wasn't one to turn her back on opportunities though, and there was no time to go and get them, by then, the kid could be gone. Besides, it was _her_ who was in charge of defense. She _had_ to do this.

"The Heartless..." he said with a sigh, "They know where your world is now. I'm sorry." he looked kind of afraid about what she would do to him, and it was only then that she realized that she was still calling on the killing intent of Shiva.

She had figured as much. That was why she was so curious about his portals. She would need to find Sora, so that he could lock the keyhole of this world. The Heartless would stop coming then. She hoped.

"Do you know where the Keyblade Master is?"

"Sora is in Traverse Town with his _new friends_." The blond said the words new friends like it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"How about you and I make a deal, kid. You bring Sora here, and I wont kill you... or your friends?" she was bluffing, but he didn't need to know that. Not to mention that her bluff could easily turn into the truth, if he caused her people to be hurt.

"He wont come with me."

"Take me to him."

Riku looked like he was going to object when Nysa gripped his arm using full strength, she ignored his wince, and said calmly, "It wasn't a question. If my people die... _so do yours_."

"Fine."

Nysa activated her com sphere with her right hand while keeping her left hand tight around Riku's wrist. "Gippal."

"_Ya?"_

"Something big has come up. Have the Jonin split up and patrol the main roads, that includes the Zanarkand Jonin. Have the Chunnin split up and protect the cities, and have the Genin split up and protect the villages. Get the White Mages to put protection spells on all populated areas immediately, and keep the population calm. This is not a drill. The things you will be fighting are called Heartless. They are hard to kill, and they come in many shapes, You will know them when you see them, they look very different from fiends. They use magic, and brute strength. Tell everyone to be careful. Oh, and have the ANBU sent to the Zanarkand City Dome as soon as you can. There is only one person who can stop them from destroying Spira, and I am going to bring him here. I'll be back as soon as I can. Koorikage out."

"Let's go kid."

---

Nysa giggled slightly as she came out of the portal. That was more fun than overdosing on Ethers! She followed Riku through the empty streets, and enjoyed the click clack sound her high heals made on the pavement. She was tempted to change out of her Dressphere, but figured that it may actually work in her advantage, Sora was never one to turn down a damsel in distress, after all.

The Town was a lot bigger than it was in the game, and it took them a good three hours of walking before they made it to the third district. Nysa got the feeling that Riku was trying to punish her for threatening his friends. Unfortunately for him, high heals had never hurt her feet.

"This is it." He said coldly. They were standing in front of huge doors that had a large number three engraved on them. Travers Town was much colder than Bevelle this time of year, and the night breeze was causing Riku to shiver slightly, even if he was trying hard not to show it. Nysa felt slightly bad, threatening to kill a kid, or to go after his friends... but her people came first.

"I assume you are waiting here?" she asked quietly.

He just nodded.

"You had better be here when I get back kid." she muttered darkly.

"He stays in the third house on the left, when he is in town."

Nysa shot the kid a half smile, the first one he had seen since meeting her, and pushed open the heavy doors as if they were lighter than air.

Nysa thought it was slightly spooky how the entire town seemed abandoned, and yet every house's lights were on, and people would watch her from behind their curtains, as if they thought she would try and kill them or something. She walked past the first two houses and stood in front of the third house for half a second before knocking. There was no time to be nervous when her people were in danger.

The door was opened by a man she recognized as Squall Leonheart. Better known as _Leon_. He stood a good foot and a half taller than her, had short dark hair, and had a jagged scar across his face. He wore black leather pants, a white tank top, with a dark fur lined jacket over top. He also had his hand on his gunblade.

"............"

Not the talkative type? Good. Neither was she. "I'm looking for Sora."

He moved aside as if to allow her access into the house, and she moved past him without a second thought. Sora was sitting at the table and he looked nearly identical to how he did in the game. Spiky brown hair, big yellow shoes, bright blue eyes, and a really strange red and white outfit. He looked up at her as she entered the room, and his eyes widened. Apparently he didn't expect to see an pretty girl in a ball gown appear in his kitchen.

"A friend of yours tried to kidnap me." Nysa said immediately, "He mistook me for a princess of heart, and in doing so, opened my world up to the Heartless. I need your help to seal the keyhole."

Sora stood immediately, "Riku?"

Nysa stayed silent but gave a half nod. "He's waiting outside, and is ..._willing_ to take you to my world."

Sora looked like he was about to run outside when two more... figures, walked into the room. Donald Duck, and Goofy. Nysa turned away to examine the rest of the room, afraid that she would start laughing. There was no way she would be able to take a talking duck and dog seriously.

Nysa leaned against the wall, while the three junior heroes talked it out. She glanced at _Leon_, who was watching her very carefully.

Nysa sighed and pushed away from the wall, tired of them arguing. "Look, your king isn't on my planet. I can say that in all honestly, as he would have been noticed, and I would have heard about it. So if you're not going to help, just say so, and I'll go find someone who actually cares if thousands of people die." Nysa made her way to the door and hid a smile as Sora followed her, along with his two furry friends.

As soon as they left the warmth of the house, Heartless appeared everywhere, and Nysa got her first close up look. They were _adorable_! Sora didn't seem to think so. His keyblade was in his hands instantly, and he was moving faster than the normal eye could follow. Nysa watched his every move, and was impressed. His style was completely improvisation. It was rare to find someone with instincts so good they didn't need practice or skill behind their fighting.

She was also quick to notice that he wasn't that high of a level yet, meaning it wasn't that far into the game. Also, he didn't seem to have the float ability yet, so he hadn't gone to the Peter Pan world. He was starting to get overwhelmed, as were his two team mates. Nysa sighed.

"Hey! Heartless!" she called out. Sora's eyes widened as she brought herself to their attention. She ignored him and focused on trying out the only attack this Dressphere had. "Ball Room Blitz!" She called out.

The attack was almost faster than they eye could see. It allowed her to literally dance around her foes, and as soon as the attack was started, a dagger had appeared in each hand, so as she spun and twirled around the adorable Heartless, they were all cut into pieces. She came to a dizzying stop a minute later and had to steady herself against a building. "Whoa... that was fun. Kudos Shinra, you've done it again. Yevon, that kid is a genius."

The three people she was traveling with were watching her with their jaws dropped. She ignored them and looked at the glowing orbs on the ground, "Ooh! Munny!" as she picked it up, she noticed that it immediately turned to Gil. She shrugged it off and pocketed it. "Come on, people, we got a planet to save."

---

"Thundaja!" Batalax cried out, towards a large dragon like Heartless. She panted lightly and dodged a slash from what looked like a ninja Heartless. "where'd they come from?" she asked rhetorically.

"I don't know." Yuna replied softly, "But we will stop them!" her lips set into a stubborn line that Batalax was starting to realize was the younger girls resolve face. "Pot Shot!" she called out as she fired another round of bullets toward the Heartless.

On the other side of the garden, Gippal was issuing orders to the Chunnin that had been stationed in Bevelle. Random Blitzball players who had showed up to the dinner were using the flying Heartless as target practice.

Batalax thought the entire thing looked like mass chaos. The Heartless kept appearing out of nowhere, which really threw the FORCE out of whack, as when fighting fiends, they could see them long before they attacked.

"_The cities have been warded."_

Batalax ducked behind a large plant, slightly our of breath, "Thank you, Baralai. Tell the hospitals to be on guard, they may be getting a lot of patients by the end of the night."

"_Yes Majokage." _

The com sphere went dead almost as fast as it had activated, and Batalax went immediately back into battle.

"_Chiryooshakage! The League is in position, what do you wish us to do?"_

"Keep the population calm. Do not let any civilians leave the towns or cities." Yuna replied promptly to Nooj. She let loose another clip into the nearest Heartless.

"_Yes Chiryooshakage."_

Yuna sighed and used her trigger happy ability. They had been fighting for over three hours, and still, the swarms of Heartless had neither backed down, nor stopped appearing.

The main focus point of them seemed to be in the Bevelle garden, so that is where the Kage, and a good portion of the Jonin and Chunnin had gathered. Yuna figured it had something to do with Nysa, as she had been in the garden before the attack had began.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Gippal could be heard shouting over the chaos of battle.

Batalax and Yuna looked in the direction he was in only to gasp. The Heartless had merged with what looked like a Spheromorph. The shared a look, "Everyone, into the Temple!"

The FORCE, along with any others who had been helping, took off into the Temple, leaving only seven people left in the clearing. Three ANBU, who had insisted on staying to help protect their leaders, the two Kage, and the Sannin; Gippal. The Spheromorph Heartless was around six times the size of a normal Spheromorph.

"What do we know people?" Gippal shouted out.

"It's an elemental." Yuna said with wide eyes. "We fought one on the pilgrimage, and it nearly killed us."

"We fought one too." Batalax said, "It was just after our pilgrimage had started. I was actually unconscious for most of the battle. Xander, Nysa, and Tara, did most of the fighting, but it _was_ doable."

The ANBU were suddenly off in a flash. They pulled the two Kage and the Sannin out of the way of the Heartless's press attack.

Batalax smiled at the ANBU with the fox mask, knowing him to be Luzzu. "Okay, that's it." Batalax said. She dusted her dress off and gave her wrist a small shake. Her outfit changed into the one she had worn for the pilgrimage. It was the Black Mage Dressphere. She didn't actually need to use it for Black Magic, but it amplified all of her attacks, which would come in handy.

"Scan!" Yuna cast. She nodded afer a moment, "Everyone! Use your highest level Fire spells at the same time!" she shook her wrist and her Dressphere changed to that of Black Mage as well.

"Firaga!" Batalax cast.

At the same time, Yuna, Gippal, and two of the three ANBU, cast their highest level fire magic.

"Scan!" Yuna cast. "Everyone! Use your highest level Water spells at the same time!"

They all cast water at the same time, and then had to dodge again as the Heartless let loose a bunch of attacks of it's own.

---

"This isn't Bevelle!" Nysa cursed slightly.

"I do not have full control over the Darkness.." Riku explained.

Sora glared slightly as the blond said this, but he said nothing. "Do you have any idea where the keyhole would be?"

Nysa closed her eyes for a moment. "No." she replied, "But if I had to wager a guess, I would say that it is in Zanarkand. It's where the key to everything has been. I sent some of my troops there, they're waiting for us."

"Then let's go!" Sora said.

"It's not that easy, kid." Nysa walked to the edge of the cliff overlooking the Calm Lands. The entire Calm Lands were black, there were so many Heartless. Nysa paid them no mind, and instead locked her eyes on the place she knew her sisters shop to be. There was no way her sister would be able to fight off that many Heartless. _"Damn it."_

Sora's eyes were wide, as were Riku's. Heartless usually didn't swarm to worlds like this, at least not in such large groups. Nysa knew why they did though. The Fiends. They were all people at one time... and all that was left in their hearts was darkness. Spira would be like a feeding ground for the Heartless. "Damn it!" she repeated, louder this time.

She glanced at her four companions, and then down at the Calm Lands. Her eyes narrowed, and her fists clenched, there was no way they would be able to make it to the Gagazet warp. She raised her right hand and activated her com sphere, "Brother."

"_Yeaaahhhhhhhh?"_

"I need a pick up. Remiem Cliff. Immediately."

"_New Course! Calm Lands! YEA HA!"_

"If possible, bring the other two Kage."

"_YUNAAAAAAAA!"_

Nysa winced and rubbed her ears as the com went dead. She turned her eyes back to the Calm Lands below and wondered how many she would be able to take out with Ice Storm. It was dark outside, and even the clouds looked angry. It was going to storm, she could feel it in the air. A storm would only help her magic. But she couldn't risk it, there could still be people down there.

"Gawsh... there's so many..."

Nysa sent a dark look at Riku, and was pleased when a guilty look crossed his face. "A... friend, is picking us up. He will take us to Zanarkand. Please remember, while you are here, you are my responsibility. If I say jump, you say how high, got it? Even without the Heartless, the place we are going to is _not_ safe. It hasn't been for over a thousand years."

"Okay." Sora replied. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but seemed to understand that she was not in the mood to talk. Instead, he, Goofy, and Donald stood and quietly talked to one another while watching the Heartless below. Riku was also watching them, but his face was blank of all emotion. Nysa refused to look at them and instead stood with her arms wrapped around herself and her eyes closed. She had only been in charge of defense for a year, and already, she was in way over her head. She didn't think she could do this.

It was less than a half hour later, when the Celcius appeared above them. Brother didn't even bother to have them climb aboard, instead choosing to warp them straight to the bridge. Nysa didn't hesitate before jumping over the railing and free falling ten feet before landing on the floor below. She didn't even pause as she made her way to the map and set in their course. The four people with her were slower, and they took the stairs.

"Zanarkand?! During BAD GUYS TAKING OVER?! NO! Bad plan."

"Brother..." Nysa narrowed her eyes and took a half step forward.

"Okay. Right! Buddy! We go to Zanarkand! New Course! YEEEEAAHHH!"

"This will be an interesting death." Buddy replied, completely deadpan.

"Where are the other Kage?" Nysa asked quietly. Her voice sounded angry, even to her own ears, and she shot another glare at the kid who was responsible for this entire thing. Riku refused to meet anyones eyes. Honestly, Nysa was glad he felt bad, he may have just sentenced her entire planet to their deaths. Selfishly, Nysa was mostly worried about her sister.

"Battle. Heartless and Spherimorph mix. Looked messy, so we didn't interfere."

"Okay." Nysa murmured, "What about Rikku and Paine?"

"Rikku is on the deck, firing spells down at the Heartless, and Paine is in the Bevelle Hospital, helping out using her White Mage Dressphere."

"Thanks Buddy. We'll be up on the deck. Give us a shout when we get close."

"No problem, Lady Nysa."

"Riku is right here." Sora said as they stood in the elevator. Nysa stopped them at the cabin level so she could buy some ethers, feeling she would have a need for them.

"Yeah. I'm talking about a different Rikku. _She_ is a year or two older than you guys." Nysa said shortly.

"What is your name?"

Nysa looked slightly startled before her emotionless mask settled in once again, "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. I'm used to everyone knowing who I am..." she gave a soft laugh, "My name is Nysa Croft. I'm the Koorikage of Spira."

"Koorikage?" the duck asked.

"I'm the leader of this planets Military. I am basically the Planets protector." _Some protector she was..._

"Definitely not a princess..." Riku murmured.

"Hello Barkeep." Nysa said politely to the Hypello in charge of the ships store. She was always super polite to them, as their entire race still had a bit of a grudge against her for asking what it was like being blue. Really, if she had known it was _that_ taboo, she would have never said anything. She had even apologized, but none of them would listen to her.

"Mish Nysha, Whash can eyh do for yoush?"

"Fifty ethers, twenty phoenix downs, and ten elixirs."

"That whill come to 60500 Gilsh."

_Rip off. _She thought, but smiled politely and handed him the money anyways. She turned to her four companions, "Do the four of you need anything? It's on me."

They all got a couple potions and ethers, but apparently, they couldn't keep as many on them as she could, as their item pouches didn't hold as much. Even then, they had to keep most of it in a backpack, as their pockets were not break proof. They had to learn to be careful before they could carry any in their clothing pockets, and even then, they could only carry around ten.

"Come, let us go to the deck of the ship." Nysa glanced down at her outfit and winced, she had forgotten she was still wearing it. "Just give me a sec..." she shook her Dressphere charm bracelet and her outfit changed back into what she had been wearing during the murder off. Camouflage pants, a black, thigh length, short sleeved, tunic, black knee length combat boots, and yellow fingerless gloves, along with her yellow item pouches strapped to her legs. Her goggles were around her neck and her forehead protector was tied around her upper left thigh. "Much better."

---

"Thunder! Thunder! Thundara! Thundaja!" A female voice could be heard shouting over the wind. "I aint afraid a no lighting!"

Nysa crept across the ship and lay her hands on Rikku's shoulders, "boo!"

"Gyah!" Rikku overbalanced, and if not for the grip Nysa had on her, would have fallen overboard onto the swarms of Heartless below.

She shot Nysa a glare and put poth hands on her hips, "You coulda killed me!"

"But I didn't." Nysa replied. She gestured to the group behind her, "Rikku, meet Sora, Donald, Goofy.. and uh, Riku."

Rikku waved at the four bemused people, "Hiya!"

"Rikki, how was the situation in Bevelle?"

Rikku's hands clenched into fists, "Disasteriffic! We couldn't ward the Temple, because they had already breached it! I also don't know how long the warding of the cities will last, the spell is still in the experimental stages, after all."

That was another thing they had been working on over the last year, creating new spells, and new parts of the sphere grid. For Nysa and Batalax, the sphere grid wasn't even necessary anymore, as they had learned all they could from it. Batalax kept her Black Mage grid and Assassin grid active so as to keep the information download, and Nysa kept her Thief grid and Alchemy grid going for the same reason, but they didn't actually require them to use the abilities anymore, which was what prompted them to making more grids.

The project was ongoing, and mostly, Nysa had stolen ideas from other things she had seen or played back on Earth. She then gave her input to Ophelia and Yuna, who had their teams put the knowledge into grids. So far, only some of it had worked, as Nysa's knowledge wasn't complete, but they were slowly filling in the gaps of knowledge with experience. The White Mage grid, along with the Black Mage grid, were the ones that had gotten the most updates, as Nysa had stolen spells from all the other things she had seen over the years, but the other grids were still giving them a bit of problems, because even if she wanted to put the knowledge of how to do something onto the grid, in order for the knowledge to be put on, she, or someone else, had to know how to do the ability inside and out. Thus, it was a slow learning process. Batalax was in charge of it for the most part.

"It's not fair. I know." Nysa said softly.

"It's a happy day! We're supposed to be celebrating a year of peace! Sin is dead, and things are supposed to be happy..." Rikku's eyes suddenly widened, "You knew!" she accused, "That's why you started the Academies! You know the peace wouldn't last, and you didn't even warn us!"

"No! _Yevon_ NO!" Nysa defended herself. "I had _no_ idea... The Heartless, everything, it-- it was like Spira was to my Birth World. I didn't know it was _real_. I started the Academies for the soul reason of protecting the people, because _I don't know_ what is all out there. Rikku, you can't believe for a second that I would keep something this big from the people... from my people?"

"I'm sorry..." Rikku whispered. She then looked up with tears in her eyes and explained why she was so touchy about the situation, when normally, things like this didn't phase her, "My Pops ship was hit by a flying Heartless. It crashed. I couldn't go to the Hospital, so... I don't know..."

"Oh gods..." Nysa murmured, "Cid! No..."

"He can't be dead, Nysa! He can't be! I told him he was a horrible father... we had gotten into another fight, and I had told him I hated him. But I didn't mean it! I don't hate him... and he can't have died thinking I hate him... he couldn't have!"

Nysa closed her eyes. First Shuyin, then the Kraken, and now the Heartless? All in a row? She looked over at Sora who was talking quietly with Donald and Goofy, and then she turned to Riku, who was watching Rikku with a look she couldn't quite decipher. "Cid knows you love him Rikku." Nysa said with the utmost confidence. She opened her eyes and nodded, as if to prove her point.

"...Do you think Becca will be okay?" Rikku changed the subject.

"...No." Nysa replied honestly. "The Calm Lands... There aren't many who could survive that. Becca isn't a warrior. There's no way... even with her Al Bhed body guards... they were outnumbered by thousands. There's no way."

Rikku frowned at the clinical way Nysa said that, even if she agreed with the statement, Rikku had never liked to see people give up hope so easily. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Nysa replid quietly.

"Who is Becca?" Riku asked. He looked as if he didn't really want to know, but at the same time, needed to know. It was easy to see that the kid was only now realizing just what he had done, and that he was ashamed of himself to the point of loathing.

Nysa didn't answer for a long moment. She watched the passing scenery, and allowed her energy to build up as the air around them got colder and colder the closer to Zanarkand they got. The cold always made her feel energized. Finally, she answered, without taking her eyes off of the passing scenery, "Rebecca Croft... was my sister."

"Is!" Rikku corrected. "You don't know if she--"

"Rikku! I don't even think _I_ could survive that many Heartless."

"_We are landing in Zanarkand in five minutes, brace yourselves." _Buddy's voice came over Rikku's and Nysa's communicators.

"Roger." Nysa replied coldly.

"Everyone, move over to the railing and hold on. Brothers landings tend to be a bit... rough."

---

"They're breaching the temple walls!"

"Not on my watch." High Priest Halmers said determinedly. He sat on the temple floor and closed his eyes. Yuna recognized what he was doing immediately.

"No... NO!"

"What? What is it?" Batalax ran over at her yell.

"He's doing a ritual of protection. It's the strongest one in existence... but it comes at too high of a price. It kills the person casting it. It was taken off the Sphere gird for that exact reason, so only the older priests even know how to do it anymore."

Batalax swallowed thickly. Normally, this would be the kind of decision that they left up to Nysa. But Nysa wasn't here. Nysa was busy saving them all, again. Batalax was sick of it. She was sick of sitting around, acting helpless. She was High Summoner Ophelia Batalax Vanaid, and she was not helpless! "No. Priest Halmers." She murmured, and they had to strain to hear her. She cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, her voice was louder, "Stand down. I will handle this."

"Ophelia..."

After defeating the Spheromorph, everyone had moved into the temple. The city itself, they had been able to put under wards, but the temple and the area surrounding it had already been breached. Meaning that if they went to the safety of the city... the temple would be lost. There was no way that could happen. "No. Half of our planets history is in the Temple. We can't let it get destroyed. We are the Kage! We can _not _let this temple be destroyed."

"You're right. I'm going with you."

"No. What I'm about to do... I don't know if I'll be able to control. I don't want to accidentally hurt you, Yuna." Batalax looked over the people in the temple. It was mostly FORCE members, along with the Civilians who had opted to help them instead of returning to the village, such as the blitzball teams, most of New Yevon, and a few of the Youth League. "Do not open the doors once I am out there. That is an order." she locked eyes with Luzzu from across the room and mouthed the words _I love you_. She then gave everyone in the room a confident smile that she didn't feel, and left the temple.

The doors closed with a final sounding snap behind her and she winced. "Okay...I can do this." she walked till she was a good distance away from the temple, and had to fight off some stray Heartless as she did so. None of them were difficult to beat, as it was always the little ones that showed up first.

Batalax let go. All of the power that she had felt building up for the last year. Power she hadn't touched, because she was afraid of what it meant. Pure power. Pure electricity.

It killed everything. Batalax felt herself turn into something she was sure that she was not. Everything shifted.

---

"Ophelia..." Nysa whispered as she felt an electric charge fill the air. It didn't harm her or those with her, but all of the Heartless in sight were vaporized instantly.

"whoa..." Sora said with wide eyes.

"Keep going. We have to lock the keyhole." Nysa urged, even though every nerve in her body was telling her to get to Ophelia before it was to late. Before _everything_ was ruined. Before she put their rest to an end unintentionally. She shook herself out of her thoughts, unsure of where they were heading.

Rikku's face was clouded over as they walked through the Zanarkand cloister of trials. This was the place where she thought she was going to lose her cousin.

"Halt!" A female voice said. ANBU's second in command, a woman wearing a Seal mask appeared. Nysa knew her to be Lucil, former captain of the Chocobo Knights.

"Good. You made it." Nysa said unemotionally, "Guard the Dome. If you see any heartless or fiends, kill them. They can not get to the lock." She ordered.

"Yes Madam."

"Come. If I'm right, it'll be where the Final Summoning was done." Nysa led the way unflinchingly through the chamber and down the machina elevator. They entered the room right before the chamber and Nysa raised a hand in the universal stop motion, "Nobody move." she suddenly ordered.

"What's going on?" Rikku asked, she looked over at Nysa and could honestly say she was shocked. The older girls eyes were wide and for a split second, completely terrified. "Nysa, what's going on?"

"I've been waiting for you." A cool, monotone voice that Nysa would recognize anywhere, spoke.

Nysa whispered a word that made Rikku's blood run cold, "_Seymour_."

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	11. Chapter 10: The end of a Tragedy

Necromancy For Fun And Profit.

An Epic Quest sequel.

A/N: Yay! The not-so-long awaited sequel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1 nor Atlantis, I also do not own Final Fantasy Ten or Ten-Two. Oh, I also do not own any of the other series that may have cameos within this fic.

I do however, own all the characters you do not recognize. I would name them, but there are far too many of them. Also, Xander, Tara, Skye, Souron, Kayden, Becca, Batalax and Nysa are based off of real people, but I do not own them, except for Nysa, who is me.

Chapter Ten.

_**The end of a tragedy**_

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Appearing to be completely flippant, Nysa leaned over in Rikku's direction and whispered loudly, "He looks really familiar, wasn't he that guy off of Spiran Idol?"

Rikku let out a startled laugh, but unlike Nysa, she couldn't fake being relaxed. Her hands were gripping her claws so tightly that her knuckles were white. She wanted to change into a Dressphere, but was too scared to move.

Nysa continued speaking in the same flippant tone, as Seymour actually walked into view, "I'm pretty sure he was kicked off because he _sucked_. And because... wow, he's joined the Heartless. What a loser! _I_ didn't vote for him, that's for sure. I mean, really. _Blue hair_? Who _does_ that? And that outfit, can you say out of fashion? Was it ever actually _in_ fashion?"

Rikku still hadn't moved a muscle, but her eyes were wide, and she had no idea what Nysa was talking about, other than the fact that she was very obviously pissing off someone who could _easily_ tear an _Aeon_ apart with his BARE HANDS!

Sora, sweet, naïve, Sora, seemed to dislike the tension in the room, so he jumped forward, "Who're you?" He demanded.

"Didn't you hear me?" Nysa asked, somewhat hysterically, "He's a loser! And-- and... Seriously, how many times do we have to kill you before you'll get the hint... _nobody_ likes you!"

"Such Spirit..." Seymour said in his cool monotone voice. "I shall enjoy crushing it." His eyes glinted with madness, "Or, Lady Nysa, would you prefer I... _buried_ it?"

Nysa's face went pale and she took a half step back before stopping herself. She closed her eyes and breathed out deeply before opening them again. She raised a hand and pointed at him, "This time, _Lord_ Seymour... I _will_ send you."

Rikku's hands were twitching with the need to throw something highly explosive, and she would have, if she could get her fingers to obey and release their tight hold on her claws.

"Who is he?" Donald asked.

"He's a bastard who orders innocent people to be killed." _Akail_... Nysa shook herself, "He's also _dead_. He's what we call an unsent, a spirit who has yet to pass on, because they feel like they are still needed, or they are unable to enter the Farplane. This... _thing_, wants to destroy the world."

"And that child made it so simple..." Seymour agreed. "I just had to hint that one of the precious princesses were on this planet... and he did the rest of the work for me."

Nysa shot a dark look at Riku, but forced herself not to lay all the blame on him. Seymour was known for being able to sweet talk people. She had had the upper hand with him, in knowing what he was like before even meeting him.

"Spira is not your nesting grounds anymore. By decree of law 238, Seymour Guado, is to be sent to the Farplane." Nysa said, making up a law on the spot, and knowing that Batalax would agree with it.

Seymour laughed darkly, "Nothing can stop me now!"

"Oh yeah?" Sora said from behind him.

Nysa smirked as Sora's keyblade was stabbed through the unsuspecting Unsents chest. The unsent had been far to easy to distract. He was still staring down at the blade in his chest with a look of confusion.

"I'm sorry that you were treated so horribly because of being a crossbreed, I really am. But what you have done... is unforgivable. Seymour Guado... Goodbye." Nysa raised her hands, one to just above her chest, and the other to above her head, and then she began to dance.

Seymour started to struggle, but the keyblade through his chest kept him in place. "No!" He cursed, as his body began to turn to pireflies, "First... my own _mother_ stripping me of _everything..._ and now this? I was going to _save_ Spira! I was going to end the pain! We could have ended the pain together..."

"We _already did_." Rikku spoke softly, still not moving, even though he was barely visible. "And we did it in a way that didn't end all life! Your plan sucked! I wasn't going to let Yunie die!"

Seymour said nothing more, as he _finally_ was sent to the Farplane, where he would hopefully, stay for good. Nysa stopped dancing and swayed slightly, it had been a little over a year since she had had to dance the sending. Rikku was at her side instantly, to steady her. Falling into the roll of guardian easily. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Nysa said tiredly, she stood up and moved away from Rikku's steadying hold, "It's been a while since I had to do that. I had forgotten how tiring it was." She was still swaying slightly, so Rikku made sure to stand close so she could catch her should she fall.

"I'm sorry." Riku said suddenly. "He tricked me." he looked at her, his eyes begging her to believe him, "He _tricked_ me!"

"He does that." Nysa said softly. She was a little disappointed. She had hoped that the kid was actually going to change his ways, but she could tell that he wasn't. He wasn't saying sorry because he had sentenced a world to it's possible doom, he was saying sorry because he had sent the _wrong_ world, to it's possible doom. "Come on, the keyhole should be in the next room."

Sora was looking between Rikku, Nysa and Riku, as if he really wanted to say something, but was holding back, afraid that he would get snapped at. Nysa reminded him of a less nice version of Leon, and Rikku reminded him of a quieter version of Yuffie. Something about Nysa seemed... wrong to him though, so he was being very careful what he said around her. He was mostly just wary because the keyblade was having a strange reaction to her presence. "Okay." he said finally. He ignored the confused looks of Donald and Goofy, and followed the two girls along with Riku into the chamber.

Along with the rest of this Zanarkand place, the room was in complete destruction. It was just ruins that were falling apart. He stayed silent as Nysa led them across the floor, but he couldn't quite stop his laugh when he heard Nysa mutter something to Rikku, "Who uses an attack called _Mega Death_ anyway?"

"Scantily clad bimbo's who like to trick people into helping her eternal summon of a Father?" Rikku asked with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah. I hate that." Nysa replied back.

They continued walking till they were at the end of the chamber, and Nysa pointed down a flight of stairs that Rikku was sure hadn't been there a year and a couple months previously. Once they got to the bottom, Sora walked ahead so that he was next to Nysa. "You were right."

"I see that." she replied back quietly as they examined the Keyhole. "When you lock this, The Heartless will stop coming to this world, right?"

"Uhh.." Sora scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He hadn't really gone back to any of the worlds he had locked up, besides Traverse town, and it most definitely wasn't Heartless free. But it was also a world where the walls seperating it from other worlds were very thin.

"Yeah." Riku replied, when it appeared Sora wasn't going to. "I will make sure of it."

"Good."

There was a flash of light and a small click sound as the key hole was locked.

"It will probably take a while before they clear out completely." Riku said.

"Not if I kill them all." Nysa said with a dark smile. Seeing Seymour made it so that she was just itching for a fight.

"We'll help!" Sora offered.

"But Sora!" Donald argued, "We have to find the King!"

"You'll find him eventually." Nysa told them honestly. "It may take a while, but you _will_ find him. Don't give up hope, and take every lead you can find. I'm _sure_ he's out there waiting for you, somewhere."

Sora and his two companions, along with Riku, looked startled. It was the first nice thing she had said to them that they could tell she was being honest about.

Rikku was looking at her for an entirely different reason, as she knew that Nysa wasn't just talking about their King, but about Akail and Tidus as well.

"Let's get back to Bevelle." Nysa murmured. She had to get to Batalax, soon.

---

Batalax was startled to see that she was glowing. She was even more startled to see that in her reflection in the water that went along the Bevelle highway, she no longer looked like herself. Her reflection was that of a giant, skeletal, unicorn._ Ixion._ She looked at her hands quickly, but they were the hands of a normal human.

She looked around warily, all of the Heartless seemed to be gone, and she was sure she had something to do with it, but she wasn't sure _what_. For a second, when she had completely released that power, she knew things. She knew everything, but as soon as she had lost control of the power, the knowledge was gone, and for some reason, that left her feeling empty. She felt as if she had just been given an amazing gift, something that _belonged_ to her, and then a second later, it was taken away.

"_You're not ready." _her reflection said.

"I know." She agreed automatically, without even questioning it. "Everything is out of order, and we are currently helpless to fix it."

"_Soon."_ Her reflection replied.

And then exhaustion took her. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground. She heard a crack and felt a sharp pain as her head hit the ground, but she was helpless to stop it, and then everything went black.

---

"Guhhh..."

"Yevon! She's awake!" there was a sound of someone getting up and a door opening, "Sui! Get the Chiryooshakage and the Koorikage in here!" The door was closed a second later and she felt a cool hand on her forehead, along with a tingling sensation from her head to her toes. She recognized the feeling of a medical scan, different from the spell scan, in that it told the person using it where the person was hurt, instead of _how_ to hurt the person.

Batalax opened her eyes blurredly and attempted to move her head, only to stop due to a severe pain. "What happened?" she demanded in a raspy tone.

"I was hoping you could tell me." Nysa said from the doorway, she was holding a vase of purple wildflowers that Batalax recognized, they grew on the road under the Highroad. "You've been unconscious for two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Batalax's eyes went wide, and she repeated the words a couple times as if to make sense of them. "I released the _power_. It was rash, I know, but.... there was nothing else... I _had_ to."

Nysa's eyes widened. She knew exactly what Batalax meant by '_the power_'. She herself, had barely touched on what that power was able to do, but unlike Batalax, she had actively been trying to improve her control over it since she had gotten it... but to release it? Nysa could feel that a good portion of her body wanted to release the power, but there was just... so much of it, she was afraid of what would happen. As the Kage that dealt in the protection of the people, she couldn't exactly endanger them just to see what she could do.

"It _was_ reckless." Nysa hissed, "You could have _killed_ yourself! ..You could have killed _everyone_! You weren't ready! _We're_ not ready."

"I'm sorry." Batalax said simply. "Were there any casualties from my actions?"

"No." Yuna said before Nysa could open her mouth. "Actually, throughout the entire invasion, as far as we can tell, there were only fifteen deaths. Twelve civilians from the Calm Lands, two Chunnin, and--"

"I get to tell her!" Nysa blurted in excitement. "The last death wasn't so much of a death, as a sending. We sent Seymour to the Farplane!"

"I had wondered when he was going to show up again..." Batalax said tiredly, she yawned and shook her head, how could she be tired after sleeping for two weeks?

"B, we'll _talk_ later, okay? Right now there's someone who really, _really_ wants to see you."

Batalax gave a tired nod and watched at her two friends left the room only to be replaced with a sexy redhead.

"Hey," she said softly.

Luzzu sat down on the chair beside her bedside and moved it so that it was closer to her bed. He then took her hand in his and smiled down at her, "Hey yourself. Are you okay?"

Batalax was startled to realize that he was the first person to ask her that. Nysa had been more angry at her than anything, and Yuna had just calmly told her that she hadn't caused the deaths of hundreds like she had feared. This made her more upset than she would ever admit. She looked past Luzzu and took in the room for the first time. It was the Bevelle Hospital. She recognized the style, as each hospital had the symbol of the temple it had in the city. The room had a window, but it looked as if it was night, and raining. The room didn't have much for furniture, just the bed she was on, the chair Luzzu was on, a side table with a small machina light, and a table by the window that was covered in cards and flowers from well wishers.

"Ophelia?"

Batalax opened her mouth to tell him she was fine, but the words wouldn't come out. She was _not_ fine. She was terrified. Something had changed that night, and she wasn't sure what it was. She just knew that it was really important. She could still feel the power of Ixion, and the wall that had been holding it back was no longer there, meaning she would have to continue to use the power, or it would build up and overflow. "No." she said, her voice little more than a whisper, "I don't know if I am."

"Do you want me to get a healer?"

"No." Batalax said quickly. Nysa's words were ringing in her ears.

_You could have killed yourself! ..You could have killed everyone!_

She closed her eyes as if would help block out Nysa's accusing voice.

_You weren't ready! We're not ready._

"I didn't think... I just had to do... something."

"It's okay." And suddenly Luzzu was there, holding her closely.

"I don't think it is..." Batalax whispered.

---

"Hey pops. It's Rikku." she swallowed and closed her eyes to fight off tears, "The healers... they say there's a good chance you wont wake up. But I don't believe it. You're too stubborn to stay asleep, you hear me?" she gently pulled his lifeless hand into her own, "Brother was here earlier, but he was kicked out, cause apparently his shouting was bothering the other patients."

"...The Healers said that in another week, we can take you back to Home. You'd probably be more comfortable there; I know you hate hospitals."

"Rikku?"

"Oh, hey Yunie." Rikku looked away from her pops, "Is it time to go?" Yuna was standing in the slightly open doorway with a gentle smile on her pretty face.

"Yeah. We got some good news though; Ophelia's awake."

"That's great!" Rikku said with very little enthusiasm.

"The Healers said she'll be released at the end of the week, but she's to be on bed rest for another two weeks."

"She'll last a day at most." Rikku said with a quiet laugh. She placed her pops hand down and bent over to give him a kiss on the forehead, "I love you Pops."

She smiled tearfully at Yuna, and they left the room. Rikku was helping the Youth League repair the damage caused by the Heartless. There wasn't too much damage from the Heartless themselves, as from the people who had panicked during the invasion. The Youth League, along with a good many of the Genin, were extremely busy fixing what had been destroyed.

---

"Really. I'm fine. Heart's here and everything."

"So sayeth _you_."

"Hey! It's _not_ my fault."

"Someone needs to take the blame."

"I am your **BOSS**!"

"...Sorry Bob."

"That's what I thought." Rebecca Croft replied.

Nysa stood in the doorway of the hospital room watching her sister and...her sisters... Nobody? Apparently, The Heartless had broken into her shop, stole her heart, been so horrified that he gave it back, and then Rebecca had woken up next to her Nobody Xobb, in the Bevelle Hospital a week later. Now, Nysa had seen a lot of strange things in her twenty years, but this took the cake. "Uhh, Becca, Xobb?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah?"

They both asked in exactly the same annoyed and condescending tone of voice. Nysa winced and took a step back, incredibly unnerved by the whole thing. "Dr. Kamsor said that the... uh, two of you, can go any time. There's a Hover lot at the other end of the city, I'm sure you can get someone to take you back to your shop."

"Thanks."

"Thanks."

Nysa smiled and slowly backed out of the room, "I, uh... I'm glad you're...both, okay. I have a lot to do, so we'll have to talk later. Do you mind if I drop by your shop next Friday?"

"See you then," Becca confirmed.

---

"Koorikage, Yo."

"Hello Gippal."

"Squads one through ninety five, along with the Seed, and Civilians who helped during the invasion, have put their reports on your desk. There are also around eighty mission scrolls, so far."

"Thank you." Nysa replied with a smile that said she wanted nothing more than to go to sleep for a week. Since the invasion, she had been leading patrols throughout Spira, with Sora. Donald and Goofy, had been leading their own patrols, as she figured they were experts on the Heartless compared to her FORCE. Riku, had fallen to Yuna's charms, and had volunteered to help her get everything back in order, as a lot had been damaged during the invasion. Nysa had also been attempting to get her troupes all back into order, along with keeping up with their missions. That wasn't counting the countless hours she had spent in the different hospitals checking up on the members of FORCE who had been hurt. The first three days she had spent beside Ophelia's bedside, not moving, until Luzzu had kicked her out and told her she had a military to run.

Gippal seemed to sense that she was tired, and grabbed her arm as she moved past him, "Koorikage... _Nysa_, when was the last time you slept?"

_She couldn't remember_. "Last night. Don't worry." She answered him with a half smile,

"Okay..." He replied, even if he didn't seem to believe her.

"Anyhow, I'm going to take a Hover to Djose. It sounds as if I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on." she gave him a fake smile and began to walk away before once again, he grabbed her arm,

"Wait, why don't you just use a warp?"

"..." Nysa blinked, Yevon, she must be a lot more tired than she had thought she was. Warps had been set up at key locations in Spira, _months_ ago. They were basically the exact same things as was at the bottom of Gagazet mountain, just slightly more advanced. They took a lot of energy to run, so most of the time they were turned off save for emergencies. There were only eight in existence. One at all three schools, one in Bevelle, one on Kilika, one on Besaid, and the older ones in Zanarkand City and Gagazet. "It completely slipped my mind."

"Figured." Gippal replied with a cocky smile. He watched as she started to walk away again before he spoke, "Hey, Celebrity-Chick!" He called her by the name he had given her all those months ago when he had met her working in Home. "I want you to remember somethin, you may be the Kage in charge of keeping peace... but you're also just a human girl, too. Let some of us help ya with your workload, or you'll burn yourself out."

Nysa shot him a small smile over her shoulder, "Thanks for the advice, Gip."

---

"You're back!"

"Hey Yuffie." Sora replied with a half smile. He looked tired, and his eyes were sad. Riku had dropped him off in the first district, and before he could even say anything, had disappeared into his portal of darkness. Sora hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him much during the last two weeks as he had helped fight of Heartless fiends. Apparently, whatever the Majokage Batalax had done, had destroyed all the Heartless in Spira, except for those that had merged with fiends. He had been working with Koorikage Nysa, and a squad of Jonin. Goofy had been leading another group of Jonin, as had Donald. Riku hadn't been around much, as he had apparently been helping the Chiryooshakage with something.

"Who was that?" Leon asked suspiciously.

"Nysa." Sora replied quietly. Even after working by her side for two weeks, something about that girl unnerved him. He was also annoyed that she constantly called him kid, when she looked around his age. The Keyblade had continued to act up in her presence, and he still didn't know why. "I don't know how she knew I was the Keyblade master, but she seemed to know a lot of things..."

"Are you alright?" Aerith asked in her soothing tone.

"Riku went away again." Sora said sadly.

---

"We need to talk."

Nysa looked up from her paperwork, she had been at it so long she had forgotten the rest of the world. She hadn't even heard Ophelia come into the room. She looked over the mage discreetly and was pleased to see that in the month since getting out of the hospital, she had regained a lot of her color, and wasn't looking half as sickly. They hadn't talked since the day Ophelia had woken up, as Nysa had been incredibly buried in her work, and Batalax hadn't been allowed to leave her home in Besaid on doctors orders. "Yeah. I suppose we do..." Nysa replied blandly.

"What's happened to us?" Batalax blurted out. "We used to be so close... and happy. I had thought coming to Spira was good for you, for us. It was as if this was the life we should have had all along... but you're not happy."

Nysa signed her name at the bottom of the mission scroll she was filling out, and stood to put it in a pile with the other completed missions. "I am happy." She whispered, "But..."

"It's not enough anymore." Batalax finished. "It's like, your a puzzle, and your missing the main pieces that you need in order to be finished."

Nysa looked up, startled, "How--"

"I feel the same. I have for some time now." Batalax admitted. She moved further into the room and closed the door behind her. "We're not normal people. Not in this world... or any world. Nysa, we have a purpose, and it's so much bigger than this, than Spira. When I released the block on the Power... I knew everything. As soon as I lost control, that knowledge was gone." Batalax sat down on the chair across from Nysa, "But it left it's mark. There is so much we don't know. So much we need to know."

"I don't want to be unhappy here, B. I love Spira. I love the people... I'd do anything for the people, even if it killed me, or destroyed me... if it would protect the people here, I'd do it in a heartbeat." Nysa admitted softly.

"I know. But staying as we are... is destroying us. I don't know if we're meant to stay in one place. I don't know if we _can_. I feel like there is so much I'm supposed to do... but I don't know _what_."

"Maybe we need to take a break?" Nysa suggested, "We've been running this world as it's Kage since February, and it's the middle of September. That's like eight months of running an _entire_ planet. Maybe we're just over worked, and over stressed. Gippal's been on my back to take a break for over a month now, but I've just continued to work anyway."

"But I _have_ been off for the last month Nysa, and it hasn't helped. I think it's time. I think we need to start looking for him."

Nysa suddenly sat up straighter, "Are you sure? I thought we were going to give Bahamut a year to give us a sign, before we did anything drastic?"

"I don't know... I just, I think it's time to start looking. It's just... a feeling I've had for the last while."

"Since the invasion?"

"Yeah. Since I..."

"Look, Batalax---"

"I'm sorry."

Nysa blinked, "I was just gonna say the same thing."

"It was stupid of me to release the power." Batalax admitted, "But it was my only choice, or it seemed like it. Priest Halmers was going to sacrifice himself to protect the temple, I couldn't allow him to do that. The people of Spira are precious to me. I feel as if they're... mine, and I have to do what I can to help them. Make their world a better place."

"I feel the same." Nysa murmured.

"I'm learning to control the Power now though." Batalax added, "It's hard though, as unlike you, electricity isn't solid."

"It can be." Nysa replied. "I've been working on creating ice weapons. I'll show you how I do it, and maybe you'll be able to do the same with your electricity. You should also spend a lot of time in the Thunder Plains, being in your element seems to help, a lot. Personally, I hang out by Temper whenever I have some time off."

They were both silent for a couple minutes, lost in their thoughts. Suddenly, Batalax got up, moved around the desk, and gave Nysa a big hug from behind. "Luzzu told me you wouldn't leave my side at the Hospital until he forced you to get back to work. Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Nysa smiled, but it was brittle. "I thought I had lost you." She turned in her chair and wrapped her arms around Batalax in a deathly tight grip, "You were so cold when I found you. I... I froze. I couldn't move, I couldn't think. It was Sora who carried you to the hospital. Rikku had to drag me behind her, because I couldn't move." Nysa looked down, "You were dead, B. You had no pulse. And then suddenly, like a spark of electricity, you started to breath again. None of the healers could even touch you for the first week, or they would get electrocuted."

"I'm sorry..." Batalax repeated.

"I missed you." Nysa said so softly Batalax had to strain to hear her. "The last year... I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." Batalax replied just as softly.

"We need to figure out what's going on with us. This Power... it isn't _from_ Ixion or Shiva, not anymore. It's almost as if we're turning into Ixion and Shiva... as if we _are_ them."

Batalax was silent for a moment, and she moved away from Nysa to look out the window to the left of the thief's desk, "When I released the Power, I saw my reflection. I wasn't me anymore. I was Ixion. My reflection told me that I wasn't ready."

"I don't even know if it's that anymore." Nysa said softly in reply. "I think it's that we don't _want_ to be ready. Whatever is happening to us... It's big. I know that much. I'm terrified, to be truthful."

"Me too."

"So what are we gonna do now?" Nysa asked quietly, like a child asking what's going to happen to them after their parents have died.

"I... I don't know Nysa. I don't know."

"We'll work it out." Nysa said softly, with a confidence she didn't feel. "Together."

"Okay."

"Good."

When had they become such fragile, broken, things?

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End file.
